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'Explosive' West Lake scene by pyrotechnic public artist
By Xu Wenwen |
April 24, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
A 20-meter-long pyrotechnic panorama of West Lake has been "exploded" onto white silk using gunpowder as ink, creating a mysterious, mystic portrait.
The US-based artist Cai Guoqiang is famous for creating the 29 fireworks "footprints" in the sky at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and for his "Sky Ladder" explosions in Los Angeles this month.
The enormous Hangzhou work, titled "West Lake," is comprised with two pieces, one a panorama of the West Lake landscape and the other, a double, representing the lake water that reflects it.
The landscape piece, which is 20 meters by 8 meters, covers four walls, stereo-like. The water piece is placed on the floor of the Zhejiang Art Museum.
It's part of Cai's solo exhibition titled "Spring," which runs through June 3. It features 22 other "gunpowder drawings" and two videos.
Cai, who calls himself a public artist, draws freehand with gunpowder as if it were ink, sketching mountains, bridges and pagodas in a panorama of the lake. After he ignites the gunpowder, resulting in flame and smoke, the result is a drawing with a smoky effect, giving an impression of a traditional ink-wash landscape filled with vacant space. The hues are browns and grays with darker shadows, suggesting mysterious mists and wind and seem to shimmer and shift.
It was made by drawing in gunpowder a scene on one vast piece of silk, then covering it with an identical blank piece of silk, sandwiching the two in cardboard and then lighting the fuse.
A wooden footpath circles the silk "water" on the floor so visitors can walk around the huge work, making themselves part of the scene, just like people touring West Lake.
"West Lake is the people's lake and having people walking in the artwork resonates with the concept," Cai says, adding that West Lake's beauty is everywhere, which makes it hard to present on a two-dimensional surface.
Cai came to Hangzhou last autumn, creating 14 works, including a 36 meters by 3 meters piece "Tide" that depicts the Qiantang River's famous tide. Others are figure drawings of the Hangzhou Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe as well as drawings of some scenic places.
This month Cai created the larger piece "West Lake," with the help of 30 volunteers working on a basketball court-size platform in the centerof the lake.
Despite the fierce explosion and glare, the silk was not literally exploded and the result is poetic and delicate.
"The work is a result of the weather, the people and the city," Cai says, adding that working with gunpowder is difficult because the results are unpredictable. Furthermore, at this time of year the weather is quite damp and windy, making gunpowder art even more of a challenge.
Therefore, Cai "followed" the weather and didn't resist it. "Many times, I placed gunpowder in a certain place, yet the wind blew it. I just let it be, that's why there's a shady and cloudy effect besides the actual outline."
"Silk's flexibility and smoothness help me express the beauty of West Lake," the artist says. "Although silk is more easily damaged and the explosion is harder to control, I am the kind of person who seeks out difficulty."
Known for his pyrotechnic projects worldwide, the 55-year-old artist calls the Hangzhou art project "a spiritual homecoming."
Cai says he has been enamored of Hangzhou since he was a child, because of its legends and the poetry and paintings about the lake. He says he loves both the natural landscape and the city's sensibility created by generations of literati. His gunpowder painting expresses his feelings about the city and respect for ancient people.
Date: through June 3, (closed on Mondays)
Address: 138 Nanshan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8707-8700
The US-based artist Cai Guoqiang is famous for creating the 29 fireworks "footprints" in the sky at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and for his "Sky Ladder" explosions in Los Angeles this month.
The enormous Hangzhou work, titled "West Lake," is comprised with two pieces, one a panorama of the West Lake landscape and the other, a double, representing the lake water that reflects it.
The landscape piece, which is 20 meters by 8 meters, covers four walls, stereo-like. The water piece is placed on the floor of the Zhejiang Art Museum.
It's part of Cai's solo exhibition titled "Spring," which runs through June 3. It features 22 other "gunpowder drawings" and two videos.
Cai, who calls himself a public artist, draws freehand with gunpowder as if it were ink, sketching mountains, bridges and pagodas in a panorama of the lake. After he ignites the gunpowder, resulting in flame and smoke, the result is a drawing with a smoky effect, giving an impression of a traditional ink-wash landscape filled with vacant space. The hues are browns and grays with darker shadows, suggesting mysterious mists and wind and seem to shimmer and shift.
It was made by drawing in gunpowder a scene on one vast piece of silk, then covering it with an identical blank piece of silk, sandwiching the two in cardboard and then lighting the fuse.
A wooden footpath circles the silk "water" on the floor so visitors can walk around the huge work, making themselves part of the scene, just like people touring West Lake.
"West Lake is the people's lake and having people walking in the artwork resonates with the concept," Cai says, adding that West Lake's beauty is everywhere, which makes it hard to present on a two-dimensional surface.
Cai came to Hangzhou last autumn, creating 14 works, including a 36 meters by 3 meters piece "Tide" that depicts the Qiantang River's famous tide. Others are figure drawings of the Hangzhou Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe as well as drawings of some scenic places.
This month Cai created the larger piece "West Lake," with the help of 30 volunteers working on a basketball court-size platform in the centerof the lake.
Despite the fierce explosion and glare, the silk was not literally exploded and the result is poetic and delicate.
"The work is a result of the weather, the people and the city," Cai says, adding that working with gunpowder is difficult because the results are unpredictable. Furthermore, at this time of year the weather is quite damp and windy, making gunpowder art even more of a challenge.
Therefore, Cai "followed" the weather and didn't resist it. "Many times, I placed gunpowder in a certain place, yet the wind blew it. I just let it be, that's why there's a shady and cloudy effect besides the actual outline."
"Silk's flexibility and smoothness help me express the beauty of West Lake," the artist says. "Although silk is more easily damaged and the explosion is harder to control, I am the kind of person who seeks out difficulty."
Known for his pyrotechnic projects worldwide, the 55-year-old artist calls the Hangzhou art project "a spiritual homecoming."
Cai says he has been enamored of Hangzhou since he was a child, because of its legends and the poetry and paintings about the lake. He says he loves both the natural landscape and the city's sensibility created by generations of literati. His gunpowder painting expresses his feelings about the city and respect for ancient people.
Date: through June 3, (closed on Mondays)
Address: 138 Nanshan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8707-8700
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