Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth
23/11-11/5/2014

Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) | Brisbane only

This major solo exhibition, spanning the ground floor galleries of GOMA, presents major, large scale installations by one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Cai Guo-Qiang

Spanning the ground floor galleries of GOMA, this exhibition presents major, large scale installations by one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Cai Guo-Qiang. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Australia and is exclusive to Brisbane. A centrepiece of the exhibition is a dramatic new commission, Heritage 2013, which features 99 life-sized animals from around the world gathered together at a watering hole. Also featured is Head On 2006, with its stream of 99 life-sized wolves leaping through the air and crashing into a glass wall. Other new work in the exhibition is inspired by the artist’s experiences in Australia, drawing upon local landscape, history and culture. There will also be a special project devised by the artist for children.

Born in China and based in New York, Cai Guo-Qiang draws from Buddhist philosophy, Chinese history and mythology, and contemporary social issues to create spectacular installations and events of astonishing scale and beauty. His works reflect upon the globalised nature of our world, and appeal to broad audiences: he is best known for his awe-inspiring firework displays (featured at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies) and a record-breaking solo retrospective exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim Museum.

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY
-Gallery of Modern Art
+ 61 (0)7 3840 7303
Stanley Place
South Bank QLD 4101
Bribane, Queensland, Australia
http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au

The website www.deutsche-gguggenheim.de wrote in the article Sammlung Deutsche Bank Cai Guo-Qiang Haed on in 2006:
Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province, China, and is considered today to be one of the most important contemporary international artists. His works have been exhibited in major international museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou. In 1999 Cai Guo-Qiang won the Golden Lion of the 48th Venice Biennial with Venice’s Rent Collection Courtyard. In 2005 he curated the first Chinese pavilion at the Venice Biennale. In 2008, his work will be featured in a mid-career retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

The wolves were produced in Quanzhou, China, from January to June of 2006. The commissioned local workshop in Cai’s hometown specializes in manufacturing remarkable, life-sized replicas of animals. First, small clay models were created as movement studies, out of which Cai subsequently developed Head On’s artist editions of cast resin wolves. However, the realistic and lifelike 99 wolves that grew out of these models and drawings possess no literal remnants of wolves: they are fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, with plastic lending contour to their faces and marbles for eyes.

Read following articles about the exhibition Deutsche Bank's online art magazine: feedback Tragic Beauty / A Conversation with Cai Guo-Qiang
Visit the artist´s website: www.caiguoqiang.com