Cai Guo-Qiang: Head On presents three well-known works by the Chinese contemporary artist. The eponymous installation Head On, where replicas of 99 life-sized wolves, run fearlessly and collide one after another into a glass wall (A reflexion on humanity being easily blinded by a kind of collective mentality and action); Illusion II, a two-channel video installation that also documents the explosion project by the same title; and Vortex, a gunpowder drawing depicting hundreds of thousands of wolves chasing one another in a circular motion. The work is accompanied by a video that features the artist creating the drawing. My favourite is the visually stunning Head On installation which was first premiered at the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin in 2006 and has since been exhibited in many institutions around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. What makes the new installation here unique is its presentation in a gallery completely painted in black. The wolve’s silvery mane against the black backdrop makes the work extremely dramatic.
