Cai Guo-Qiang

“Many artists, when they are creating art, are searching for a vehicle that can manifest a feeling they have inside of themselves.”

“I have always found that if, while creating an artwork, the artist constantly feels that some accident would occur if he is not careful, then it is a very significant moment and a significant work.”

“When I was young, I didn't want to do traditional painting and calligraphy. I deliberately wanted to separate from my father so I could feel I existed myself.”

“Only individual creativity can bring about real social development.”

“The boyhood dream of becoming a painter stays important to me.”

“In Quanzhou, I have a lot of influence from superstition. I would go to the temple with my grandmother and mother. That is why I have a lot of curiosity about the unseen force and invisible things.”

“Only an idiot would open an exhibition saying, 'Look at my awesome work.'”

“In my own art, I try to use my personal voice and effort to enable some Chinese people to see the possibilities of another kind of China. A more open China.”

“I lived in Japan for eight years before moving to New York, but I was looking forward to a place like America to change my opinion on things and force me to come up with new perspectives.”

“The role of art in society is not to resolve conflicts; rather, it is to express these conflicts and antagonisms.”

“My father was also a painter - actually, a traditional Chinese painter. His personality is pretty timid and cautious. Like him, I was growing up as a cautious kid.”

“For my art, there is a common theme most of the time: it is using the things we can see to search for the world we cannot see.”

“Even though China was a very closed country, they thought of themselves as the center of the world. It is an ethnic characteristic. After I went to Japan, I had a totally different view. The Japanese are always talking about what the Western world is doing. There is the anxious feeling of an outsider.”

“Even though Chinese society was really closed, there were two windows for me to explore the world. One was from my mother and grandmother, the unseen and invisible world. Another window was brought from my father's side, those classic and Western books.”

“For an artist, a good place to be is you have some kind of influence and power to get things done, but in your essence you remain a nomad or a soldier facing a difficulty to be overcome.”

“My work is like a dialogue between me and unseen powers, like alchemy.”

“Art should not be a tool of politics, but sometimes art can help make the political climate more open and help society become more free.”

“I have always been a coward as a child. I am not very brave. I am very aware of the fact that I am not very gutsy.”

“Anyone can be seduced by the possession of power and influence.”

“Temporality and the transformation of energy are two very important aspects in my work.”