Cai Guo-Qiang is a contemporary Chinese artist renowned for his innovative works which incorporate gunpowder. In perhaps Cai‘s most compelling work yet, Sky Ladder (2015), the artist ignited a 1,650-foot-tall ladder rigged with gunpowder and held aloft by a giant balloon. “Why is it important to make these violent explosions beautiful,” he has asked. “Because the artist, like an alchemist, has the ability to transform certain energies, using poison against poison, using dirt and getting gold.” Born on December 8, 1957 in Quanzhou, China, growing up during the Cultural Revolution, Cai experienced a number of parades as well as protests that featured both fireworks or gunshots. The artist went on to study stage design...