China’s “First Firework Artist” Cai Guo-Qiang is internationally renowned for turning explosions into art.

Most recently, Cai collaborated with Canadian outdoor brand Arc’teryx on a dramatic “mountain explosion” art performance on the Tibetan Plateau, once again igniting global conversation around his signature genre: gunpowder art.

As of July 2025, Cai Guo-Qiang has held 652 art projects across all five continents, including around 122 solo exhibitions and 72 explosion events. He is a recipient of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and numerous other international awards, widely recognized for transforming pyrotechnics into poetic, visual storytelling.

Born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in 1957, Cai moved to Japan in the 1980s and later settled in the U.S. during the 1990s. While his artistic mediums are diverse, it is his large-scale firework installations that brought him global fame.

Cai has served as the chief fireworks designer for major global events, including:

  • Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

  • Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

  • 2001 APEC Summit in Shanghai

  • Taipei 101 New Year’s Eve Fireworks

  • China’s 60th & 70th National Day celebrations

“I’ll never get tired of gunpowder,” Cai once said, calling it “a lover I’ll never leave.” This passion has led to one of his most iconic innovations: the “Daytime Fireworks” series — spectacular displays of colored smoke erupting in daylight, combining aesthetic subtlety with explosive energy.

Notable works include:

  • “The Birth of Tragedy” (Charente River, France, 2020)

  • “When the Sky Blooms with Sakura” (Fukushima, Japan, 2023)

These works push the boundaries of what explosive art can be, shifting the focus from shock to serenity, from nighttime spectacle to daylight poetry. Through his relentless experimentation, Cai continues to redefine the language of art — and to tell stories the world can’t ignore.

His art speaks not only in color and light, but in thunder.