Cai Guo-Qiang signs with White Cube gallery

White Cube now represents Cai Guo-Qiang, marking the first gallery representation for the Chinese-born, New York-based artist known for gunpowder paintings. The British powerhouse hosted his solo show 'Gunpowder and Abstraction 2015-2016' at its Bermondsey space last autumn—his first London presentation since his 2003 Tate Modern project. The new arrangement coincides with White Cube's solo presentation of his ongoing bird-themed gunpowder painting series (begun in 2018) at Tefaf New York (14-19 May). Capucine Perrot, the gallery's director of artist and museum liaisons, says Cai has been on their radar since a studio visit in Beijing two decades ago. Cai describes the partnership as a 'natural progression' driven by a desire to show his work commercially. He first experimented with gunpowder in 1984 at his Quanzhou studio, later expanding to outdoor explosion performances, including the controlled firework blast on London's Millennium Bridge for his Tate commission and displays for the 2008 Summer Olympics ceremonies. For Tefaf, White Cube will show azure-toned avian paintings, studies from his 2018 Uffizi exhibition, and works from a 2020 Palace Museum project. Cai's shift to blue after three decades of black stems from a search for 'a spiritual colour', while bird imagery reflects 'chaos, contradiction and conflict' in society.