CAI GUO-QIANG: SKY LADDER - PAINTING WITH EXPLOSIVES
While “action painting” was being coined and praised in the New York School of artists in the middle of last century, an Eastern philosophy of the same vein was exploring techniques of which Westerners hadn’t yet begun dreaming. Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang packs a metaphysical punch in what is surely a natural progression from this movement with a series of works that use explosions as technique.
Taking his pyrotechnic, high-art show on the road to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, a site-specific installation and performance exhibition called Sky Ladder takes an art of the artist’s ancestors in Chinese fireworks to create a contemporary work of art. Fine art visual search engine Art.sy follows the artist in this short film dedicated to his work created by director Antony Cook and wife Marina Cashdan, who is also the Producer and Editor of the site.
“He’s got this dynamic between an intense spirituality and a real childlike nature,” says Cashdan. “Explosions really do fascinate and excite him. There’s this tension between serenity and chaos—that’s what drives him.”
Check out the film to see more of the philosophy behind the artist’s work, and visit MOCA now to witness his West Coast solo debut.
