The wolves were produced in Quanzhou, China, from January to June of 2006. The commissioned local workshop in Cai’s hometown specializes in manufacturing remarkable, life-sized replicas of animals. First, small clay models were created as movement studies, out of which Cai subsequently developed Head On’s artist editions of cast resin wolves. However, the realistic and lifelike 99 wolves that grew out of these models and drawings possess no literal remnants of wolves: they are fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, with plastic lending contour to their faces and marbles for eyes.
Hey! I, like, so totally just assigned my freshman contemporary art seminar students to read about this artist yesterday. His work using gunpowder is amazing as well. He was one of the feature artists in last year's PBS "Art:21" series. You can read more about Cai Guo-Qiang here:
That is truly amazing.