CAI GUO-QIANG

• CAI GUO-QIANG, born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, in 1957, contemporary artist currently living in New York. After studying stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute, he spent several years in Japan, studying at the University of Tsukuba from late 1986 to 1995. Since 1995, he has been based in New York, producing "gunpowder drawings" and large-scale performances, as well as many installations with Chinese and Asian cultural backgrounds. In 1999, he was awarded the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale. He held exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum, and was the Visual Special Effects Artistic Director for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, designing the fireworks display for the ceremony.