Cai Guo-Qiang

When recently asked to identify some of the most compelling contemporary artists, Cai Guo-Qiang was a no brainer. Born in China in 1957, Cai now lives in New York City. He is best known for his use of gunpowder that he employs to create public performances (below) and “drawings” that document the explosions.
He creates his drawings by sprinkling gunpowder around paper cut outs of dragons, tigers and other traditional Chinese motifs that lay on top of paper or canvas. After removing the stencils he covers the drawing with cardboard, places stones on top to weigh it down and ignites it. After the explosion, the cardboard is removed to reveal an abstracted drawing. While Cai has some control over how the finished drawing looks, there is an element of chance inherent in working with explosives.
Gunpowder has a loaded history that traces back to ancient Chinese alchemists. They originally discovered it by accident while searching for an elixir that would provide immortality. Ironically, it was quickly co-opted by the Chinese military for war.
Knowing this, Cai’s work becomes conceptually meaty in addition to being visually spectacular. By using gunpowder for creation instead of destruction, Cai makes a powerful statement about the political climate of China and America post 9/11, earning him the distinction of being one of today’s most relevant artists.

Event Horizon

Check out these pics of Antony Gormley’s new outdoor exhibition Event Horizon. Gormley’s work consists of 31 lifesize sculptures – 27 of which are placed on rooftops and ledges of buildings surrounding Madison Square Park. Apparently before the work was fully installed, the NYPD got on board to reassure the public that Gormley’s figures were not potential jumpers on the verge of committing suicide.

Gormley’s take: “I never wanted to freak anyone out. If people think of death and suicide, it’s a sad reflection on evolution. This is meant to be an amazing celebration of New York.”

Marilyn Minter

I was recently at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas and discovered they have a great Marilyn Minter painting in their collection (Image 1). Notice I wrote painting, not photograph. Minter (b. 1948) creates her photorealistic paintings by staging photo shoots of models wearing caked-on make up or what Minter calls “war paint.” She uses an actual darkroom to develop the film and then combines various negatives in Photoshop to make a new image that she paints onto aluminum. The brilliant color, glossy sheen of the surface and simultaneous portrayal of both decay and decadence keeps me staring at her paintings with train wreck-like fascination. Her work is a warning of beauty’s fleeting nature and its subjects remind me of characters long past their prime like Miss Havisham from Great Expectations and Charley, the alcoholic divorcee in the film A Single Man. Of course there are tons of real life women too who need to quit trying so hard with Botox and Lipo and heed Minter’s words: “Perfection is the flaw. It doesn’t exist.”