Zhang Huan: Worth the Wait
Zhang Huan To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond 1997 Performance still Collection of the artist / photo courtesy of the artist
Hard as it may be to believe given his international success, the current Zhang Huan survey at the Vancouver Art Gallery is the first-ever in Canada. But with a substantial 55 of the Beijing artist’s major works on view, it looks like there might have been some advantages to waiting a while.
Chinese artists may be getting ever more coverage and exhibitions in Canada, but a solo survey of Huang is certainly in order. Though Huan is just in his 40s, he has produced a rather diverse body of work. Huan first became known in the early 90s for his endurance performance works—like sitting in a latrine covered in honey and fish oil to attract flies and insects—he soon branched out into coordinating thoughtful yet uncanny group performances like 1997’s To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond.
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Zhang Huan My Rome 2005 Performance still Collection of the artist / photo courtesy of the artist |
Following a late-90s move to New York City, Huan’s practice melded into performing for the camera in works like Family Tree, which involves Huan’s face being coated with increasing amounts of calligraphy until it is completely black with ink. At that time, the artist also started to explore in art the collisions of culture and place that he was experiencing in life; performances like My Rome, My New York and My Boston showed Huan bringing Buddhist sensibilities to Western capitals.
Now, resituated back in Beijing, Huan focuses more on sculptures made from antique wooden doors and from burnt incense ash from local temples. All of it is definitely worth the wait. (750 Hornby St, Vancouver BC)
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Zhang Huan Family Tree 2000 Performance still Collection of Larry Warsh / photo courtesy of the artist |
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