Cai Guo-Qiang in "Power" - Season 3 - "Art in the Twenty-First Century" | Art21

CAI GUO-QIANG in

In the twenty-first century

My work is sometimes like the poppy flower

It has this almost romantic side

But yet, it also represents poison

Gun powder

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

Very epic and heroic,

but at the same time
it's used for such destruction.

Gun powder possesses a physical danger
for anyone who is near it.

But with time,
you get to know the material.

First you have to accept
that it's uncontrollable.

And then, work with it.

I've worked with the material so long,

that I've gained an understanding
of how it works

My way of doing it
is just to flow with the material.

To let,
it take me where it wants me to go.

So I continuously want it to
give me problems.

Give me obstacles to overcome.

This whole process of making drawing
is very much like lovemaking.

From the very beginning of
laying down the paper,

it's like laying down
the sheets on the bed.

And it's a very long process.

Always working towards a final goal.

And all the time there's this feeling
that you just want it to explode.

to finish.

But you're afraid
that maybe it's too early,

maybe it's not the best time yet,

maybe you need to work on it
a little more.

And then afterwards,
you either have great satisfaction

or you have disappointment as to
your entire performance.

You can talk all day about the ancient
philosophies and modern philosophies

art history, criticism, theory,
subject matter, historical context,

contemporary, post-modernism, form,
representation.

All these things can be discussed

but in the end,

it's really this on sight performance,
so to speak,

that really makes a work.