The USC Pacific Asia Museum (PAM) opened its new exhibition “Cai Guo-Qiang: A Material Odyssey,” for media preview on Friday. Drawing on research conducted by the Getty, the exhibition opens to the public on Tuesday and dives into the accomplished artist’s use of gunpowder and pyrotechnics through an extensive collection of Guo-Qiang’s renowned works in different stages of his life.
The exhibit is an “unbelievable collaboration” between the USC Pacific Asia Museum and the Getty Center, Bethany Montagno, executive director of USC museums, said in the exhibit’s opening speech. Guo-Qiang’s artwork makes people believe they are “capable of doing impossible things,” Montagno said.
Guo-Qiang has been working with gunpowder and pyrotechnics to create drawings, paintings and explosion events for more than 40 years. The lack of control and predictability of this material invented in China over a millennium ago deeply fascinated Guo-Qiang from a young age.
The exhibit debuted in 2020 at Beijing’s Palace Museum and went to Shanghai’s Museum of Art Pudong in 2021. An expanded version of the exhibition now arrives at USC PAM. Curated by Rachel Rivenc, Tom Learner and Andrew Perchuk of the Getty Research Institute, in collaboration with Rebecca Hall of USC PAM, this exhibition aims to offer a unique look into Guo-Qiang’s unique blend between art and science.
Rivenc, the lead researcher and curator of the exhibition, recounted the first time she saw Guo-Qiang’s work at the Guggenheim retrospective in 2008. “I had never seen anything like that,” Rivenc said. “He again and once again really pushes the boundaries of what is possible.”
Recently, Guo-Qiang started his new journey with artificial intelligence. In the exhibit’s guided tour he stated he believes that AI should not be hidden behind the screen. The artist’s newest commission, a daytime fireworks show entitled “WE ARE: Explosion Event” for PST ART presented by the Getty in collaboration with USC, was displayed at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. Guo-Qiang choreographed the event using his custom AI model, cAI™.
Another theme central to Guo-Qiang’s works is eternity. The artist believes eternity transcends the existence of time. He attempts to capture the instantaneous moments to grasp their eternity.
“Even when something is eternal, you can’t own it forever,” Guo-Qiang said in 2016.
The Getty’s interdisciplinary research analyzed the compounds and pigments in Guo-Qiang’s pyrotechnic powders for their longevity and will publish the findings in the Getty Conservation Institute’s “The Artist’s Materials” series.
Guo-Qiang shared the story of the last painting of the exhibition, which he calls the “ending of his cosmic travel,” inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist mandala. The sand mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of geometric diagrams made from colored sand. Once complete, the mandala will be dismantled.
“[Buddhists] put the dedicated mandalas into the river. The fire in my work functions similarly to the river… Finally, all these complications will fade away, like the dark cosmos,” Guo-Qiang said, explaining his intention behind his piece “Return to Darkness.”
Beyond Guo-Qiang’s artwork, USC PAM displays over 15,000 pieces spanning 4,000 years.
“This is a chance for us to share the Pacific Asian collection.” Rebecca Hall, the curator of the PAM said. “Even though they come to see this brilliant artist’s work,” she explained, “they have a chance to say, ‘What is this museum about?’”