Painting with Gunpowder

This weekend I went to the Cai Guo-Quiang exhibition at the Guggenheim. I had never heard of this artist before but really liked some of his pieces. The entire atrium is filled with an installation that looks like a time lapse photo of a bomb sending a car flying through the air (but is actually real cars suspended from the ceiling). Another installation involved life sized tigers and rocks which visitors walked through as if they had entered the drawing on a Chinese scroll. 

The most notable aspect of Cai Guo-Quiang is his "paintings" where he uses explosives to create images. He works by laying fuse cord against heavy paper and interspersing fireproof layers with gunpowder (video below). I was underwhelmed by his early paintings which, to be honest, sometimes just looked like industrial accidents but his later works were elegant and detailed. One exceptional painting was a bird landing on a pine tree where the needles and feathers were outlined by the fringes of explosive marks. 

Regardless of personal preferences for the explosive pieces it was obvious that Cai was creative and innovative. It was also encouraging to see that he had the opportunity to improve and refine this technique to create some impressive works that were not just production novelties. 

This made me think about entrepreneurs and startups who are innovative and game changing but never get the opportunity to see their creation succeed. It seems almost a rule that the company that develops something totally new will not succeed or profit from their inventions. Everyone knows YouTube, but who remembers ShareYourWorld.com? Or who still uses Friendster in the face of Facebook? Perhaps I'm naive in the world of art and maybe there are artists that develop innovative techniques only to see them co-opted more successfully be others. However, it seems like the art world is willing to place value on brilliant ideas but the business world has a brutal memory that only recalls the financial successes.