Zhang Huan

Xunta de Galicia and Cotthem Gallery ed., Zhang Huan - Pilgrimage to Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, 2001, pp. 162-163, illustrated in color

Framed in a wooden frame under Plexiglas, this work is in very good condition. Not examined out of frame.
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One of the foremost contemporary Chinese avant-garde artists, Zhang Huan has a history of performance art dating back to the 1990s, when he lived with a group of similar-minded friends in Beijing's East Village. He is famous for ritualistic procedures, during which he subjects himself to considerable discomfort and even pain; Zhang has made a name for himself as a body artist of the first degree. Most often naked, the artist negotiates elaborate, usually trying circumstances—for example, sitting in a filthy public toilet, covered with fish oil and honey to attract flies—whose meaning is mysterious but which demonstrate a penchant for primal psychological meanings. Zhang is idiosyncratic to a remarkable degree, but his behavior is uncanny in its ability to rivet an audience's attention.

Chromogenic prints record Zhang's actions, which are spectacularly visual—as is the case with Waterchild (Lot 169), an image of the artist standing chest deep in water with a small child sitting on his shoulders. The child is naked, resting comfortably on Zhang; the connection between the boy and the water surrounding him and his support seems to be intuitive but is nonetheless central to Zhang's presentation of innocence. Water is often a restorative, purifying element, and its association with a small boy allows Zhang to develop a primary symbol of blamelessness. Two photos from the series Foam (Lot 170), shows a striking image of Zhang's face covered with soap foam with black-and-white photos from his family album in his mouth. The images are about one's origins, and Zhang bears his personal story in these photos.

Another print, entitled Family Tree (Lot 86), shows us the progressive darkening of Zhang's face as the characters describing his family tree are repeated in ink, again and again. At first, Zhang's countenance is relatively readable; the characters do not intrude on our experience of his features. But by the ninth image of this nine-part work, Zhang's face is completely covered with black ink, giving him a ghastly appearance. It seems clear, from this and other works, that Zhang is most interested in a basic identification between himself and his past. 9 Holes (Lot 171), the last image in Zhang's group, shows nine persons carefully arranged on a grassy hill; they are naked, and each one of them is face down on the ground. Zhang tends to get attention for posing and having others pose nude, and here, as elsewhere, we see a powerful image of people not only communing with but also embodying nature.

-Jonathan Goodman