Throughout art history, artists have experimented with different materials and processes of making work; pushing creative boundaries and developing new ways of depicting and representing the world around us. Few methods of creating an artwork, however, could be said to be more exciting than that used by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
Working primarily with gun powder, Cai is famous for making explosive works, both sculpturally like in Transient Rainbow, as shown above, which was created on the banks of the river in New York in 2002, and also on paper, like this drawing for Transient Rainbow from the Museum of Modern Art's collection.
It has now been reported the Cai has been asked to create his first permanent, site-specific installation in a United States museum. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has commissioned Cai to create one of his signature gun powder drawings to line the walls of the Tin Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery, which will open at the MFAH this October.
The work will be created in a 25,000-square-foot warehouse in Houston in early October, ready for the opening of the gallery on the 17th. What makes the occasion even more special is that the creative process that Cai will go through will be open to the public for viewing.
For a little bit of a preview of just how Cai creates his artworks with a bang, take a look at this great video: