蔡国强于1957年生于福建泉州，1981-1985年就读于上海戏剧学院舞台美术系。

Cai Guoqiang was born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in 1957. He studied in the Department of stage art of Shanghai drama academy from 1981 to 1985.

他的艺术表现横跨绘画、装置、录像及表演艺术等数种媒材。1986-1995年底旅居日本期间，他持续探索从家乡泉州开始的以火药创作绘画的艺术手法，逐渐推大其作品的爆破规模和形式，并建立随后著名的室外爆破计划。他以东方哲学和当代社会问题作为作品观念的根基，因地制宜，阐释和回应当地文化历史。

His artistic performance spans painting, installation, video and performing arts. During his stay in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he continued to explore the art technique of gunpowder painting from his hometown Quanzhou, gradually expanded the blasting scale and form of his works, and established a famous outdoor blasting plan. He takes the Oriental philosophy and contemporary social problems as the foundation of his works, and explains and responds to the local culture and history according to local conditions.

他以艺术的力量和强悍的作品视觉漫步全球，体现在不同文化里自由往来的游牧精神。他著名的火药爆破艺术和大型装置充满活力和爆发力，超越平面，从室内空间走入社会和自然。他自1995年移居纽约至今。

He wanders around the world with the power of art and the vision of strong works, which embodies the nomadic spirit of free communication in different cultures. His famous art of gunpowder blasting and large-scale installations are full of vitality and explosive force, transcending the plane and stepping into the society and nature from the interior space. He has moved to New York since 1995.

2019年，担任庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年联欢活动焰火总导演。

In 2019, he served as the general director of fireworks in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China.

1991年蔡国强在日本举办里程碑式个展《原初火球》，首次正式展示他的思想和艺术视野。启动《为外星人作的计划》系列作品，以《地球也有黑洞》为题，在广岛市中央公园制作大规模爆破计划，使用900米长导火线和火药弹，引爆浮于空中的气球装置。此后获得旨在表彰对艺术创造与和平作出卓越贡献的“广岛奖”。

In 1991, Cai Guoqiang held a landmark solo exhibition "the original fireball" in Japan, which formally displayed his thoughts and artistic vision for the first time. Launch the series of works of plan for aliens, with the title of black hole on earth, and make a large-scale blasting plan in the Central Park of Hiroshima City, using 900 meter long fuse and powder bombs to detonate the balloon device floating in the air. Since then, he has won the "Hiroshima Award" for his outstanding contribution to art creation and peace.

他跳出东西方二元论，从宇宙视角关照人类文明，掀起日本当代艺术界的“蔡国强现象”。

He jumped out of the dualism of the East and the west, looked after human civilization from the perspective of the universe, and set off the phenomenon of "Cai Guoqiang" in the Japanese contemporary art circle.

1995年受亚洲文化协会(Asian Cultural Council)邀请后移居纽约，更加活跃于世界各地。三十多年来，他的艺术足迹几乎遍及五大洲所有国际大展，在众多世界著名的艺术殿堂举办个展，包括2006年纽约大都会博物馆个展《蔡国强在屋顶：透明纪念碑》和2008年纽约古根海姆美术馆个人回顾展《我想要相信》。

Invited by the Asian Cultural Council in 1995, he moved to New York and became more active all over the world. Over the past 30 years, his artistic footprints have covered almost all international exhibitions on five continents, and he has held solo exhibitions in many world-famous art halls, including the solo exhibition Cai Guoqiang on the roof: the transparent monument of New York Metropolitan Museum in 2006 and the personal retrospective exhibition I want to believe of Guggenheim Art Museum in 2008.

他还担任2008年北京奥运会开闭幕式核心创意小组成员及视觉特效艺术总设计。2013 年10月，他在巴黎卢浮宫、奥赛美术馆之间的塞纳河上，创作观念爆破计划《一夜情》。

He also served as a member of the core creative group of the opening and closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the chief designer of visual effects art. In October 2013, he created the idea blasting plan one night stand on the Seine River between the Louvre and the Orsay Art Museum in Paris.

同年，个展《农民达芬奇》在巴西三个城市巡回，吸引观众100 万余人，其中里约热内卢一站成为当年全球所有在世艺术家观展人数最高展览。他的爆破计划《天梯》于2015年6月15日凌晨在福建泉州惠屿岛港湾实现。相关纪录片2016年在美国首映。

In the same year, the solo exhibition "Da Vinci the farmer" toured three cities in Brazil, attracting more than 1 million visitors, among which Rio de Janeiro became the world's largest exhibition for all living artists. His blasting plan "TIANTI" was realized in the early morning of June 15, 2015 in the harbor of Huiyu Island, Quanzhou, Fujian Province. The documentary premiered in the United States in 2016.

作品收藏机构包括：纽约现代美术馆、大都会博物馆、古根海姆美术馆，巴黎蓬皮杜美术馆，伦敦泰特美术馆、卡塔尔博物馆管理局等世界各国重要博物馆和艺术机构。

Works collection institutions include: New York Modern Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Guggenheim Art Museum, Pompidou Art Museum in Paris, Tate Art Museum in London, Qatar Museum authority and other important museums and art institutions in the world.