“Gunpowder painting” of Cai Guo-Qiang: Chinese artistic tradition in the era of postmodernism

Abstract

The subject of this research is the art of Cai Guo-Qiang (born in 1957) – the modern Chinese painter who lives and works in China and the United States (New York). The object of this research is the storyline fireworks of Cai and his innovative technique of “gunpowder painting”. The first works of the painter were canvasses in oil painting, and by 1980’s he invented a new “gunpowder” technique, which was first applied in combination with oil on the canvas, and since 1990’s – with ink on the paper, as a version of modern traditional painting guo-hua. His works evolved from social realism to a distinct variation of modern expressionism, as demonstrated the first in Russia retrospective exhibition of the works of Cai Guo-Qiang that took place in the Phuskin State Museum of Fine Arts (“October”, Moscow, 2017). Authors of the exhibition catalogue justifiably note the “cosmopolitan mission” of his art, but leave out of account the traditional context. The proposed methodology, which integrates art and culturological analysis, allows seeing in the works of this prominent modern painter the version of mass art that retains mental and reverse connection with the Chinese tradition. The scientific novelty of the article is defined by the following conclusions: the art of Cai Guo-Qiang is addressed to the international audience, but concords with the traditional paradigm due to Buddhist mentality deeply rooted in the painter’s consciousness. The traditional aspect is his proclivity for harmonization of social environment. This mass art that possesses formal and substantive novelty is associated with the modern international artistic market, as well as market version of “Chinese style” (Chinoiserie) of the XVIII century.