

Study for Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City No. 8
2020
This gunpowder work demonstrates Cai's signature technique of controlled detonation, where pigment disperses across canvas to create both destruction and chromatic revelation. Dominated by deep blues and vivid reds with scattered black particulates, the composition features expansive color clouds that radiate outward in organic bursts, punctuated by fine scorch marks and halos of pigment dispersal. The pale ground serves as negative space, allowing the explosive gestures to read as dynamic forces suspended in stillness. This return to color marks a significant evolution in the artist's decades long exploration of gunpowder's dual nature, simultaneously destructive and generative, violent and poetic.
- Medium
- Gunpowder on canvas
- Overall
- Spotted At
- Gallery · White Cube
Notes
White Cube solo presentation of Cai Guo-Qiang at TEFAF New York 2026, Stand 355, Park Avenue Armory, May 14–19, 2026. Framed: 47.6 x 63.2 x 6.4 cm.
For Sale — $120000
More by Cai Guo-Qiang

Start the Discussion
Request access to join the discussion