Quote:Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China. He recalled as a child hearing the "upsetting yet eerily beautiful blasts of artillery being fired across the straight."[3] His father, Cai Ruiqin, was a calligrapher and traditional painter who worked in a bookstore. As a result, Cai Guo-Qiang was exposed early on to Western literature as well as traditional Chinese art forms.[3]

As an adolescent and teenager, Cai witnessed the social effects of the Cultural Revolution first-hand, personally participating in demonstrations and parades himself. He grew up in a setting where explosions were common, whether they were the result of cannon blasts or celebratory fireworks. He also “saw gunpowder used in both good ways and bad, in destruction and reconstruction”.[3] It seems that Cai has channeled his experiences and memories through his numerous gunpowder drawings and explosion events.