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Fluidity and Transformation: Positioning the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang

Skaggs, Meredith L.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1338435148

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, Art History (Fine Arts).
Cai Guo-Qiang works within many contradictions, one of which is the making of art while challenging commoditization of objects. As a Chinese person abroad since 1986, Cai navigates his own cultural heritage while taking into account the global spaces where he exhibits. Such precarious positioning allows him to comment on and challenge the art-system of object production. Cai's artworks subvert their own materiality whether by being evocative of process, seeking non-productivity, allowing re-contextualization, being submissive to place and time, and/or through expressing intangible phenomena. These tendencies prevail with consideration of Plato's notion of the real and Jacques Derrida's concept of trait. It is evident that Cai's mediums (gunpowder drawings, explosion projects, installations) and methodology reflect the elusiveness of his art and ambiguous categorization as a contemporary artist, imbuing process with more significance than any commoditized object.
Marion Lee, PhD (Advisor)
Jennie Klein, PhD (Committee Member)
Andrea Frohne, PhD (Committee Member)
102 p.
Art History
Cai Guo-Qiang; contemporary Chinese art; gunpowder drawing; explosion project; art as non-commodity; art subject to place and time; global artist

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Skaggs, M. L. (2012). Fluidity and Transformation: Positioning the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1338435148

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Skaggs, Meredith. Fluidity and Transformation: Positioning the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang. 2012. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1338435148.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Skaggs, Meredith. "Fluidity and Transformation: Positioning the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1338435148

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1338435148
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.