Cai Guo-Qiang Transcript

Cai Guo-Qiang: Every museum has iconic works of attraction. You’ll see plaques everywhere telling you about the classic and important artworks to see. But when you go into the storage you see more.

Narrator: When artist-curator Cai Guo-Qiang explored the Guggenheim’s collection, he was excited to discover little-known works by prominent 20th-century painters. He calls his presentation Non-Brand (非 品牌), a reference to his idea that these figurative works lack the “brand,” or the sought-after, recognizable style associated with a famous artist.

Cai Guo-Qiang: I want to have an exhibition without stars or brands. These are true artists who are passionate about art. Through these pieces you can understand fundamental things, such as why humanity needs art.

Narrator: Cai is known for making works using gunpowder. For this exhibition, in addition to selecting work by other artists, he created new paintings in this signature style, which are installed on Rotunda Level 1. The works are in dialogue with iconic abstract paintings in the Guggenheim collection by Kandinsky, Yves Klein, and Mark Rothko, and again reference the idea of artistic styles as a kind of brand. As Cai explains, he emulated these works on glass, and then exploded gunpowder on the images. He wanted to poke fun at his own “brand”— an inside joke he is sharing with the artists, the museum, and visitors.

Cai Guo-Qiang: After these masterpieces are exploded by gunpowder, it is and it is not iconic. It’s a kind of deconstruction of the brand. Gunpowder is symbolic of violence. It uses violence to destroy and construct. Gunpowder has become my brand.

I use glass and mirrors to represent that artists of each era are mirroring one another. I’m deconstructing them into my own art. The visitors who are searching for the icons, they’re reflected in the mirrors as well. So they’re participants in constructing this brand.

Narrator: Although gunpowder is his primary medium, Cai has never lost his original love for painting.

Cai Guo-Qiang: I find my childhood emotions flowing like a little river through painting. And this little river is connected to the painters that came before me, to the cave paintings of ancient mankind, and to humanity’s love for art. We inherit spirits of painting and art from the ancient past. That will never change.