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Cai Guo-Qiang: Gunpowder Art

Ashmolean Museum University of Oxford Ashmolean Museum University of Oxford

Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang (b. 1957) is best-known for his gunpowder explosion events staged in public spaces worldwide and, in particular, for his firework display for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This exhibition focuses on the artist’s smaller-scale works, exploring the presence of Chinese culture in his art through the mediums of painting, drawing, and gunpowder on canvas, paper and silk. Learn about the significance behind the materials Cai Guo-Qiang chooses to work with, as well as the ways he adapts them to explore his own central themes of creation, destruction and chance.