Cai-Guo Qiang

Being that there are few prominent Chinese contemporary artists, my dad informed me a few weeks ago Cai-Guo Qiang was coming to town to exhibit at the MOCA and I was delighted to see that he paying a personal visit to USC while he was in Los Angeles. His work is driven by Chinese culture, from mythology to materials, Qiang's work is greatly inspired by his heritage, though it seems more accurate to say his work is inspired by his surroundings, as he tailors all his pieces to the location he is in, often utilizing locally significant materials in his work. For instance,  for a gallery showing for his gunpowder artwork in Mexico City, instead of sticking to water for the reflecting pool beneath the gunpowder work he fills the lake with mezcal, an alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant native to Mexico, giving the work a sense of familiarity for the viewers and an unexpected cultural twist to his work. Qiang joked that after preparing the installation he felt intoxicated from the fumes, and that some visitors even stole a couple drinks from the mezcal lake– revealing how a simple change of materials could greatly alter the work and bring new life and commentary to a piece. I personally really liked his gunpowder artwork- not only is it absolutely stunning, I just really like the idea of creating such beauty and serenity out of such destructive, volatile materials, and how the gunpowder is closely controlled but is at the same time wild and out of control as there's no telling what kind of design it would make in the end, or if it would just blow up in your face. The symbolic significance of gunpowder to Chinese culture and the sheer violent connotations that go along with gunpowder, combined with such wonderful imagery it is able to create– I just love it.
His other sculptures with animals and cars and boats were amazing as well, not to mention his fireworks shows. As the lecture progressed it seemed like Qiang was just an oversized kid playing around with whatever he liked and never ceasing to have a wonderment for the world around him. He described the fireworks in the sky like a child's watercolor paintings and maintained that he loves what he does, and will only work in conditions that allowed play and experimentation. This inspired me a great deal, and although I had a steady course plan for painting and drawing as my emphases,  I decided I really wanted to play with sculpture some more next year. Thus I enrolled in intermediate sculpture the day after attending the lecture, somewhat hesitantly, but then I remembered what Qiang told me when I asked him a question after his lecture. "Just do whatever you love to do," he told me simply, after I blathered on about the great uncertainties of my future as an artist. Nothing could be closer to the truth.