Friday, August 14, 2009

Arts Focus: Zhang Huan

Zhang Huan is one of the most thought-provoking contemporary artists working today. Born in 1965 in Henan Province in central China, he was part of an artists' collective located on the outskirts of Beijing known as the "East Village," which because of cheap rents had become a nexus for avante-garde artists by 1993. The period of time that he spent in the "East Village" and abroad marked a dramatic departure from the academic training in oil painting that Zhang had undergone at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, from which he earned an MFA. Known initially as a performance artist, Zhang used his body as a canvas, engaging in feats as diverse as locking himself inside a metal case in a simulation of death to walking into a fishing pond with a group of nearly fifty people in an effort to raise the water level.

From 1998-2006, Zhang lived and worked in New York City, after which he moved back to China, establishing his studio in Shanghai. He has been the focus of numerous group and solo exhibitions. In recent years, his worked has turned from performance art to sculpture and installations. In the link below, New York Times journalist David Barboza takes viewers on a tour of Zhang's Shanghai studio and draws interesting comparisons between the nature of art-making and the commercialization of contemporary Chinese art.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/arts/20070903_Zhang_FEATURE/index.html

Zhang Huan's website is located here:

http://www.zhanghuan.com/

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