Cai Guo-Qiang - Sky Ladder
In the early morning hours of June 15, a huge white balloon filled with 6,200 cubic meters of helium slowly ascended into the sky above Huiyu Island Harbour, Quanzhou, China. Attached to it was a 500-meter long ladder coated completely with quick burning fuses and gold fireworks that was then ignighted by artist Cai Guo-Qiang who has become known for his ambitious pyrotechnic artworks.
A Drone’s Eye View of Fireworks
From unofficial block-parties to city-sponsored events, Fourth of July firework displays seemed to have been all over social media platforms this past weekend, and rightly so. Although filmed back in May of this year, Jos Stiglingh sent a GoPro Hero 3 silver mounted to a DJI Phantom 2 drone into the sky to capture a bird’s-eye view of a fireworks display in West Palm Beach, Florida. Seeing the colorful streaks wiz past the aerial camera as if caught in a stellar explosion sure does beat the view from the ground.
This Week In Photography Books – Ryan McGinley
Yes, it’s filled with photographs of naked pretty young things. There are easily more than a hundred plates, shot over a ten year time range. What I mistook long ago as cynical booty-peddling has clearly become the artist’s obsession and passion, as valid as anyones’. In book form, it all makes sense.
Certain symbols are repeated, fireworks, falling, caves, rivers, trees, motion, all as backdrops or partner effects to the nude youths. In “You and I,” it’s hard not to imagine them as nymphs or wood elves, perhaps Roman gods on a time-traveling vacation throughout the American West. (Where it seems much of the book was shot.) Yes, it all happened, and these are real people, but they don’t seem so. The allegorical/metaphorical nature of work shines.
The color palette is lovely, blues, greens, yellows. The mood is consistent, as is the shooting style. Definitely his own thing. Nan Goldin’s name never came up in my head, which says a lot about Mr McGinley’s evolution as an artist. I can say that this book is well worth looking at, as it coalesces the vision of an important American Artist.
Bottom line: Fantastic book, perhaps not for everyone.
Biggest daytime fireworks display. At the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar this week, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang put on his largest "explosion event" of the last three years, utilizing microchip-controlled explosives to form incredible designs and patterns.You gotta love an artist who’s preferred medium is explosions.
