Cai Guoqiang unveils his serene side in art show

Eucalyptus features a 31-meter dying gum tree filling Queensland Art Gallery’s iconic Long Gallery. Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

Conversely, Eucalyptus features a 31-meter dying gum tree filling Queensland Art Gallery’s iconic Long Gallery.

It’s presented as an unfinished work to be completed by the audience, which is invited to draw and write ideas about the tree’s past and future, the artist said.

Cai said the two works stem from his experience traveling with his family in Queensland, which helped him capture sentiments including how the environment connects with humankind.

“The clear water and the contrast of the sand left a very deep impression on me. As did the memory of the children wading in the water, playing together,” Cai recalled.

The third artwork on display is Head On, a commissioned work Cai completed in 2006 for the Deutsche Bank collection. A pack of predators —99 life-size replicas of wolves made of gauze, resin and painted sheepskin — are seen running in a high arc against a glass wall.

The artist said the work, inspired by the Berlin Wall, is filled with symbolism and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. But one of the main messages is that the “invisible barriers between people and countries are harder to take down”.

Born in Quanzhou in Fujian province in 1957, Cai was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theater Academy from 1981 to 1985. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, which led to his pursuit of explosion events. In 1996, he moved to the United States and now lives in New York.

He is best-known for his firework display at the 2008 Beijing Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies and a groundbreaking solo exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim Museum.

Queensland Art Gallery director Chris Saines said Falling Back to Earth is the result of the longstanding relationship between Cai and the gallery.

“The exhibition is an unprecedented undertaking for an Australian art museum,” Saines said.

Cai previously was featured in the gallery’s flagship Asia Pacific Triennial series of exhibitions in 1996 and 1999.

The show, which is presented by Tourism and Events Queensland, will run until May 11, 2014.

In addition to the three installations, it also includes a chronological display of Cai’s career, an interactive exhibition for children, and a pavilion for Chinese tea ceremonies.