Exploding canvas

Cai makes an explosion while creating his gunpowder painting Seasons of Life.

Cai was most excited by the final result of exploding colored powders. The smoky scarlet reminds one of the irresistible "sense of being insane and abused" that can be found in paintings by Francis Bacon (1909-92). A large area of dusty gray delivers coolness and stability, and the comfort of "releasing the other ego of me", he says.

"The primitive energies of black and colorful gunpowder interweave to transmit the loss and lust of a journey of life."

He says he had deliberated on the subject of lust for a long time before he finally realized it in Seasons of Life. He draws upon the Asian philosophy that time and space are integrated. And he says, he is relieved to find that the dynamics of Seasons of Life compensates the plainness of Nighttime Sakura.

The show, There and Back Again, seeks to review his state of mind during his years of struggle as a young Chinese artist in Japan, where he had moved in 1986. He also shows an installation work Morning Glory and gunpowder drawings on porcelain - Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter - at the same show. They were produced last year.

Cai also displays the impressive Head On, which includes 99 wolf replicas rushing in a line toward a glass wall. The works complete a chain of clues to the development of his art and life over two decades.

Cai conversed with the public through his massive, explosive art style during his time in the neighboring country.