Born in Quanzhou, China in 1957, Cai Guo-Qiang is one of the most significant Chinese artists to have emerged internationally in the 1990s. Cai has explored a diversity of media and art forms, but gained recognition for producing projects that are strongly influenced by their location. In early 2006, Cai was invited by the Metropolitan Museum to create a site-specific installation for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, overlooking Central Park with expansive views of the Manhattan skyline. Included in this exhibition are four works that present the artist’s reactions to issues of present-day concern: Clear Sky Black Cloud, an ephemeral sculpture that consists of an actual black cloud appearing above the Museum’s Roof Garden Tuesdays through Sundays at noon for the duration of the exhibition; Transparent Monument, a large sheet of glass at the foot of which lie replicas of dead birds; Nontransparent Monument, a multipart narrative relief sculpture in stone; and Move Along, Nothing to See Here, a pair of life-size replicas of crocodiles cast in resin, pierced with scissors and knives confiscated at airport security checkpoints, that loom over the Roof Garden space. Accompanying the exhibition "Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument," this volume is a photographic survey that explores these four works, situating the audience somewhere between history and contemporary culture, mythology and fact, nature and civilization, while addressing the uneasiness and fragility of our society at present.

96 pages, 115 full-color illustrations, 9 1/2 in. x 11 in. Paper.

Cai Guo-Qiang: Transparent Monument
03-019106
Member Price: $31.45 each
Non-Member Price: $34.95 each


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