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Cai Guo-Qiang — Study for Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City No. 8
Cai Guo-Qiang — Study for Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City No. 8
Cai Guo-Qiang

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

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

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About this work

Cai Guo-Qiang, 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
Dimensions
overall: 46 x 61 cm
Year
2020
Seen at
White Cube, London, United Kingdom

Related themes

Controlled Detonation, Scorch Marks, Living Artist, Pigment Dispersal, Blue Pigment, Gunpowder Painting, Canvas Art, International Contemporary, Mixed Media, Blue Chip Gallery, Chinese Artist, Destruction Creation, Red Pigment, Non Representational, Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, Explosive Gesture, Contemporary Art, Performance Based, Experimental Technique

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