Nontransparent Monument

© 2006, Cai-Guo-Qiang

Nontransparent Monument

Currently not on view

Nontransparent Monument,

2006

Cai Guoqiang 蔡國強, born 1957
Chinese
Modern period, 1912–present
2010-131

Information

Title
Nontransparent Monument
Dates

2006

Maker
Cai Guoqiang 蔡國強
Medium
sheets (unmounted); ink on paper rubbing
Dimensions
244 x 130 cm. (96 1/16 x 51 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Patricia P. and Henry Tang
Object Number
2010-131
Signatures
Signed and dated in graphite, lower right
Inscription
Numbered in graphite, lower left: 5/20
Description

Two ink-on-paper rubbings from a set of five taken from the Nontransparent Monument carved relief sculpture of green limestone (overall: 274.3 x 970.3 cm; nine panels, each274.3 x 109.2 cm), which was installed in exhibition Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006. Nontransparent Monument was a multi-part narrative sculpture with vignettes of life after September 11, 2001, ranging from the tragic to humorous images.

In the 2006 exhibition, Nontransparent Monument was the antithesis of Transparent Monument, an installation of glass, papier-mâché, fiberglass, plastic, and feathers (457.2 x 309.9 x 81.3 cm) that framed a view of the city skyline. At the base of the 15-foot tall glass pane, lie replicas of dead birds. "Like a transparent sculpture or canvas," says Cai, "the glass encases the city and park, fusing them with the work as one, and bringing out the relationship between the city, or civilization, and park, or nature."

Culture
Chinese
Period
modern Chinese styles and periods
Type
rubbings
Materials
ink, paper (fiber product)
Techniques
rubbing
Subject
figures (representations), men, romanticism, ink, women, love, priests

–2010 Patricia P. and Henry Tang (New York, NY), by gift to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2010.

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