Cai Guo-Qiang

I do get somewhat nervous, but in the moment of ignition it seems to go beyond nerves.

In Chinese tradition, fireworks evoke celebration, but they also evoke the violence and protest of Cai’s upbringing during the Cultural Revolution. In 2008, he was criticised for working with the Chinese government on the Olympic Opening Ceremony. A few years later he started work on one of his childhood dreams, a 500-metre ladder reaching into the sky. 

“Early work has begun on the largest single installation ever commissioned. I want to connect the earth to the universe.”

Cai is an artist who’s genuinely changed the shape of art history – he’s an Old Master of our time.

My work is sometimes like the poppy flower. It has this almost romantic side, but yet it also represents a poison.