Cai Guo-Qiang (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series)

Cai Guo-Qiang is one of the most important Chinese artists to have emerged internationally in the 1990s. Best known for his spectacular firework projects at locations ranging from museum entrances to the sites of land art works such as Robert Smithson's Sprial Jetty, Cai has explored a diversity of media and artforms. These have included works such as an extension to the Great Wall of China, designed to be seen from outer space by extraterrestrial beings; feng shui arrangements of private living spaces both in Japn and New York; participatory projects with kites, jacuzzis and mini golf courses, and sculptures constructed from melted-down cars or abandoned boats. His projects are strongly influenced by their location and the works are frequently altered or developed as they are exhibited at new sites. Unifying Cai's wide-ranging work is his consistent investigation of humanity's place within the universe.