Cai Guo-Qiang

Cai Guo-Qiang: Fallen Blossoms is the result of a close collaboration between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Fabric Workshop and Museum. Conceived as an homage to the late Anne d'Harnoncourt, former director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the exhibition gracefully addresses time's passing and the role that memory and memorials play in attending to the past.

Fallen Blossoms includes five components: at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Light Passage, a series of gunpowder drawings, and Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project, a one-time explosion event on the East Terrace on December 11, 2009. At the Fabric Workshop and Museum, a video of the Explosion Project as well as two additional new works, Time Scroll and Time Flies Like a Weaving Shuttle, are on view through March 1, 2010.

Light Passage is a meditation on the passing of time in which the artist invokes the four seasons, a recurrent trope in Asian art, to symbolize the ephemeral nature of life. The natural elements depicted by Cai's finely tuned technique of igniting gunpowder on paper—trees, flower blossoms, water, birds—metaphorically express the themes of death and renewal. Three of the drawings, Spring, Summer, and Winter are mounted on panels, directly referencing historical screen painting traditions. By using gunpowder on paper, the artist reveals the fine balance between the destructive nature of the material and its aesthetic potential when employed in art making. Hung above the drawings and in close resonance with them, is 99 Golden Boats, a sculptural installation that contrasts the precious yet immutable gold of the boats with the flowing, river-like pattern implied by their succession. It is the first time that this group of works is exhibited in the United States.

Explosion Project

Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project was a site-specific explosion event conceived by Cai Guo-Qiang for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A blossoming flower of light and fire, the explosion was an ephemeral but mesmerizing ceremony celebrating the creative energy contained in the Museum's landmark building. The gunpowder fuse shaped like a flower was ignited on December 11 at sunset in front of a large audience. Intended as a gift to the city, the radiance of the blossoming flower faded out after a minute in a finale punctuated by gunpowder salutes.

The title of the explosion event, Fallen Blossoms – also the title of the two-venue exhibition - is derived from a classical Chinese proverb hua kai hua luo which speaks of the profound feeling of loss experienced when a life is cut short unexpectedly. Thus, the event was also intended as a celebration of the memory of the Museum's late director, Anne d'Harnoncourt. A video work documenting the event and titled Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project will be on display at the Fabric Workshop and Museum until March 1, 2010.