I recently visited the Mathaf aka the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha Qatar for the incredibly spectacular Cai Guo Qiang exhibition. The museum is known for its collection of modern art for the region and regularly hosts artists from around the world, whether its art by Arab artists or those who may offer an Arab perspective on international modern and contemporary art.
The founder of the museum is H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani whose mission was to build a collection that could serve artists and public as a rich and representative treasure-house of modern Arab art.
I was impressed by their commitment, collections and who has been inside their walls. Currently on exhibit until the end of May is world renowned Chinese artist Cia Guo Qiang. I was not familiar with his work before seeing his collection in Doha and was blown away by his technique and his results.
He’s known for his “gunpowder’ techniques. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and to the development of his signature explosion events.
Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and contemporary social issues as a conceptual basis, these projects and events aim to establish an exchange between viewers and the larger universe around them, utilizing a site-specific approach to culture and history.
His work has been shown worldwide…Cai’s retrospective I Want to Believe showed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and his Peasant Da Vincis, opened in May 2010 as the inaugural exhibition of the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. Cai also created Odyssey, a permanent gunpowder drawing for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in Fall 2010. Installed as part of the museum’s ongoing Portal Project, it is one of his largest gunpowder drawings to date.
Take a look at the intricate detail that he has been able to achieve. His miniature series includes eight gunpowder drawings especially for Doha. (not everything in this collection is specifically for this exhibition however0. Volunteers prepared and cut stencils and fabric samples. Gunpowder was then ignited directly onto the stencils and samples to transfer the designs to paper.
Inspired by Islamic miniature paintings and the embroidered trim on Qatari women’s abayas, the richly decorative designs in the series question the roles of ornament in art, creation in destruction, and the artist as the sole creator of an artwork.
The below are some of the paintings of women in a series that stretched across one wall.
More from the same technique, colors, style…
Gunpowder was exploded onto elaborately sculpted porcelain. This kind of porcelain, manufactured near the artist’s hometown, was historically traded by sea to the Arab world. The juxtaposition of gunpowder and porcelain suggests a fragility in human relationships, whether between individuals, nations or cultures.
Renee Blodgett is the Founder and Managing Editor of We Blog the World, a global travel, culture and lifestyle publication exploring the world through the lens of meaningful experiences, human connection and cultural depth. Having lived in 10 countries and traveled to 95, Renee has spent much of her life immersed in the people, traditions, landscapes and ideas that shape how we experience the world.
Since launching We Blog the World in 2007, she has written and produced extensive editorial coverage spanning boutique and luxury travel, culinary experiences, arts and culture, wellness, adventure, technology, spiritual traditions and transformative travel. Her work is rooted in the belief that travel is about more than where we go—it is also about what a place, culture or encounter awakens within us.
Renee brings more than three decades of experience across journalism, photography, media, brand strategy, technology, wellness and global storytelling. She has worked with companies and organizations around the world on brand positioning, communications, product launches, media strategy, speaker positioning and storytelling. Through Blue Soul Media, she works with authors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and purpose-driven brands to clarify their message and expand their impact, which includes speaker coaching/training for high-profile stages such as TED and bringing authors’ work to market while retaining authors rights.
She is also the co-founder of Blue Soul Earth, an educational platform exploring consciousness, ancient wisdom, spirituality, healing and the intersection between science and the nature of reality. Renee is the producer and host of the award-winning Blue Soul CHATS, a conversational series bringing together leading voices in science, technology, consciousness, wellness and spirituality.
Her growing body of work also includes Blue Soul Living, which extends her interest in consciousness and well-being into the spaces we inhabit, exploring how intentional design, energy and environment can support greater harmony and connection.
Renee is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling Magdalene’s Journey and founder of the Magdalene Collection, inspired by women’s voices, stories and wisdom across cultures and generations.
A longtime photographer and storyteller, Renee has documented people, places and cultures around the world and produced photographic collections focused on destinations including the Galápagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome and Ecuador. She also co-founded Traveling Geeks, an international initiative that brought entrepreneurs, journalists, creators and technology leaders together with their counterparts in other countries to exchange ideas and explore innovation across cultures.
Renee’s work has been recognized by Forbes, the United Nations and others for her influence in media and social storytelling. Across her work in travel, media, consciousness and culture, a common thread remains: curiosity about the world, the stories that connect us and the ways meaningful experiences can change how we see ourselves and one another.
