Chinese artist to add gunpowder drawing to Houston museum

Cai Guoqiang, a renowned New York-based Chinese contemporary artist, Wednesday finished one of his largest gunpowder drawings, which will be part of the China gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The century-old museum, one of the largest in the United States, is planning to add a China gallery to its Asia gallery space. Cai's new work, a gunpowder drawing entitled "Odyssey," will be among the pieces of art on display at the Arts of China Gallery to be opened on Oct. 17.

The work is composed of 42 panels totaling 10 by 162 feet. The artist and his crew, dozens of volunteers from Houston, placed the panels on the floor of a warehouse, then applied an assorted mix of gunpowder to the panels before igniting the drawing with a fuse. The subsequent explosion, manipulated through various forms of control and mixed with a streak of chance, emitted the energy and fumes that produced the final work.

"'Odyssey' not only symbolizes the voyage that Chinese culture has taken from antiquity to modern times, it is also about the ancient Chinese literati's journeys of the mind between heaven and earth," said Cai, who grew up in China and has spent the last 20 years creating charred drawings by pouring gunpowder on canvases laced with fuse lines.

Cai, who has been awarded numerous prizes for his unique art form, received worldwide attention for working as the director of visual and special effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.