"I am eternally optimistic; I am Chinese" - The Art Newspaper - The Diigo Meta page

• 21 Jan 08
  

  Yule Heibel

  First time I've tagged something under "gunpowder," but Cai Guo Qiang's art deserves its own tag and niche. I love this guy's work (although, admittedly, I haven't had a chance to see it in person, even though it was displayed at the Seattle Art Museum). Just to give an idea of this man's thinking:
  "Gunpowder is a spontaneous, unpredictable and uncontrollable medium. The more you learn to control it, the more obsessed you become with the material. It is like making love with your husband or wife. The outcome is unpredictable and the same results are never guaranteed. Furthermore, in using gunpowder I can explore all my concerns: the relation to notions of spirituality as well as an interest in spectacle and entertainment, and the transformation of certain energies—such as violent explosions—into beauty and a kind of poetry. An artist should be like an alchemist using poison against poison, which is very much a philosophy from Chinese medicine. Turning something bad into something good…countering the force. It’s the whole idea of the alchemist, using dirt, dust, and getting gold out of it. From gunpowder, from its very essence, you can see so much of the power of the universe—how we came to be. You can express these grand ideas about the cosmos."
  
  This is philosophy and art, not just tired old ideology and art. Brilliant stuff, truly.
  
  On the Olympics -- a salient topic for us, in BC, given that next-door Vancouver will host the Winter Games in 2010 -- Cai Guo Qiang notes:
  "The Olympics combine the entire country’s efforts, and can do a lot of previously unimaginable things. You can display your work in front of an audience of billions, but at the same time it can feel like you’re making the work for yourself. Through this event, one can contemplate and better understand what “Chinese culture” is. One needs to think about the past, present, and future of China and its relationship with the world."
  
  That makes me think it's the most significant statement yet (for the non-athlete) on the Olympics: time to step

  art cai_guo_qiang gunpowder ideas sculpture

  • I understood quickly the value of the underground. I was always very unwilling to align myself to any particular group.
  • When I was a child, the Chinese government did not allow citizens to buy flowers because it was a very bourgeois thing, but since my hometown of Guangzhou was far from the capital, I could buy flowers from farmers and go home and paint them. I associated this bourgeois act with being an artist. I didn’t want a nine-to-five job. I wanted to live freely.
  • 2 more annotations...
  • • Gunpowder is a spontaneous, unpredictable and uncontrollable medium. The more you learn to control it, the more obsessed you become with the material. It is like making love with your husband or wife. The outcome is unpredictable and the same results are never guaranteed. Furthermore, in using gunpowder
      
      I can explore all my concerns: the relation to notions of spirituality as well as an interest in spectacle and entertainment, and the transformation of certain energies—such as violent explosions—into beauty and a kind of poetry. An artist should be like an alchemist using poison against poison, which is very much a philosophy from Chinese medicine. Turning something bad into something good…countering the force. It’s the whole idea of the alchemist, using dirt, dust, and getting gold out of it. From gunpowder, from its very essence, you can see so much of the power of the universe—how we came to be. You can express these grand ideas about the cosmos.
    • The Olympics combine the entire country’s efforts, and can do a lot of previously unimaginable things. You can display your work in front of an audience of billions, but at the same time it can feel like you’re making the work for yourself. Through this event, one can contemplate and better understand what “Chinese culture” is. One needs to think about the past, present, and future of China and its relationship with the world. You can use this platform to tackle the topics of ritual and ceremony. In brief, it can be an opportunity for self-growth.
      
      TAN: How tolerant and supportive are the authorities towards the new cultural and artistic boom?
      
      CG-Q: The higher the level of the official, the broader their vision becomes. They tend to pursue newer things and are more ambitious and tolerant to new culture than their subordinates. The Chinese government has changed more drastically than it appears to the outside world.

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