Cai Guojie’s artworks might seem disparate at first glance, yet they are always means with which he ponders and probes culture, creations made from deconstruction and reconstruction.
Painted in vivid colors, landmarks in Macau such as St. Dominic’s Church and Rua da Cunha seem to wear the western skins in the paintings, though in fact are built of the skeleton of ancient Chinese calligraphy. To put it precisely, Cai always writes, not paints, his watercolor pieces; they are sigils of culture.
Trained in installation art, Cai is also fascinated by deconstruction and reconstruction. In the painting installation “St. Dominic’s Church”, he decodes the lines and color patches within the painting and reproduces in three-dimensional space a new church, like a strange stainless-steel bonsai. Lines in disarray, layers cut out and reorganized, the appearance of the object is shattered. In this grotesque anatomy, his artistic statement comes to light forthright.
Previously in the “Half-Field Plan”, Cai, served as a boundary manager, auctioned these spaces to participants and sparked a discussion on land ownership and use right. Here he becomes a worker who collects dust and grits between the Portuguese calçadas outside the gallery, with which he welds into a weight, the essential measurement tool for scales in ancient China. Interestingly, “Quan”, or weight, can be literally translated as “power” or “right” in Chinese. Now the trivial dirt between tiny cracks can actually hold sway. Perhaps, the purest form of power can only be found in the most marginal space where no one touches. Always cocooning reason with beauty, Cai Guojie’s artworks are vessels of his unwavering position for culture, which he holds dear and never compromises.
When: July 20–August 22, 2020
Where: Creative Macau–Center for Creative Studies, G/F Macau Cultural Centre Building, Avenida Xian Xing Hai, Macau
How much: Free admission
For more information, check the event’s Facebook page
