pow, pow, pow

Commissioned by Saint Laurent, artist Cai Guo-Qiang sends colourful fireworks into the sky
By Barry Pierce | Art | 29 June 2023

In a display that we didn’t even know was possible, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang turned the sky into a canvas. Setting off daytime fireworks in a myriad of colours and patterns, the piece was the latest in a series of artworks commissioned by Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent.

For decades, Cai has been fascinated by the wider universe and the unseen world, including feng shui, astrology, and the ancient Eastern philosophies behind them. His large-scale paintings, installations, and outdoor explosion projects are renowned worldwide and convey a grand worldview that is both mythological and anthropological.

GALLERY

The fireworks symbolise the starting point of a new exhibition, Ramble in the Cosmos – From Primeval Fireball Onward which opens officially on June 29th at the National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT) and which is co-organised by Saint Laurent. The entire exhibition will strike audiences as a gigantic installation, where they can experience Cai’s idiosyncratic perspectives and artistic journey.

As well as the fireworks having been broadcast live on Saint Laurent’s Instagram, projections of the event will be displayed across LED billboard screens at Times Square, New York; Piccadilly, London; The Grand Gateway, Shanghai; Shamao, Chengdu; Shinjuku and Harajuku, Tokyo.


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