Zhang Huan

Zhang Huan (张 洹Chinese, Pinyin Zhang Huan, born 1965 in Anyang ) is a Chinese artist.

Life

Zhang Huan was born in Anyang in Henan Province, and spent much of his childhood in the country. In the early 90s he moved to Beijing, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts studies in painting completed in 1993. Since it first he failed to gain a foothold in the now and in the West successful art scene of Beijing, he joined a group of artists in the directory named after the New York City borough of " East Village " outskirts of Beijing, where he began to perform some masochistic appearing performances and photographic or cinematic document. In the late 90s his international breakthrough with a participation in the Venice Biennale and solo exhibitions in Asia, Europe and the USA. Today Zhang Huan lives in Shanghai and New York.

Work

Zhang Huan's works are typically thematize the human body and its relation to the environment and history, while the body itself physically is used and sometimes is exposed to great effort. His best known works are performances, although he is now working in the field of sculpture. He has both solo performances listed, as in the early, recorded by Chinese photographer Rong Rong working 12 Square Meters (1994 ), in which he smeared with honey and fish oil and covered with flies for hours remained at a public latrine, and collaborative actions how the work to Raise the Water level in a Fishpond (1997 ), in which Zhang Huan with 40 migrant workers unclothed a pond in Beijing turned to raise the water level. Zhang Huan's work can be read in many cases also as metaphors of political and social developments; so 12 square meters is interpreted as a comment on the fate of the Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was forced during the Cultural Revolution for cleaning public toilets.

Another well-known work is My New York ( 2002), in which he dressed in a costume of flesh by New York marches. More recent works are turning aesthetic references to the history and religion of China on, such as large sculptures representing fragments of Buddha figures and are made of symbolically charged materials such as the ashes of incense from temples or animal skins.

Exhibitions (selection)

• P.S.1 (1998)
• 48th Venice Biennale (1999)
• The Whitney Biennial (2002)
• Kunstverein Hamburg - solo exhibition (2002)
• Asia Society New York - solo exhibition " Altered States " (2007)