Introduction

Inopportune: Stage One, from 2004, is a large-scale installation work consisting of a meticulous arrangement of life-size cars and multichannel tubes that seem to blow up in sequence, symbolizing a series of car explosions. The work is accompanied by a video titled Illusion that plays for 90 seconds at a time. Cai Guo-Qiang also created Inopportune: Stage Two in 2004. In Stage Two, the artist lined up life-size models of tigers, with each tiger pierced by at least twenty to thirty arrows. Both works evoke an overall feeling of discomfort and anguish despite one's urge to keep looking.

Guo-Qiang's works are often politically charged and entertaining at the same time. He creates seemingly violent explosions that are visually attractive and dazzling despite their harrowing subjects. He feels the artist is "like an alchemist" who "has the ability to transform certain energies, using poison against poison, using dirt and getting gold."