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Zhang Huan
hang Huan (1965 Henan) is one of China's best-known performance and conceptual artists. He is also known for his shocking and absurd photographs and images. He studied painting and taught art history in Henan but switched to performance art, seeing it as a way to interact with the world. His body became both his medium and his language. In the 1990s, Zhang attracted notoriety and the government's censorship for his unsettling works, which involved subjecting his naked body to pain or torturous circumstances. In "12 Square Meters" (1994), Zhang smeared fish oil and honey over himself and sat in his dirty, neighborhood public outhouse for an hour, letting flies swarm and eat off of him. Critics interpreted it as a spotlight on the living conditions in Beijing's East Village, an artists community, and elsewhere in China, and as a testament to the mind's ability to rise above horrible situations. After Zhang moved to New York in 1998, he walked down the street with slabs of raw meat tied to his body creating the image of a giant walking piece of meat. His works of self-expression have also earned much acclaim. "Peace," a 2001 installation of a horizontally-hanging, gold-leaf-covered cast of Zhang's body that strikes a huge bronze bell, was sold for $408,000 at Sotheby's auction in 2006. In September 2007, the Asia Society in New York held a retrospective of his works. He now operates one of the world's largest art studios, employing over 100 workers creating an array of sculpture works and installations. He was recently signed by the highly regarded Pace Wildenstein Gallery in New York. He now lives and works in Shanghai and New York.



Tui Bei Tu Series, Woodcut, 360 x 250 cm, 2008



Three Legged Buddha, Steel and Copper, 860 x 1280 x 690 cm, 2008



Canal Building, Ash, Steel and Wood, 180 x 1800 x 600 cm, 2008



100 Sages in a Bamboo Forest, Live Monkeys, Bamboo,Structure of Ming Dynasty House, Steel Tube and Wire, 1400 x 1200 x 900 cm,2008



Giant 1, Animal Hides, 2007



Giant 2, Animal Hides, 2007



Hero, Incense Ash, 2007



Ash Head No.3, 2007



Buddha Leg, Copper, 460 x 700 x 194 cm, 2006



Dragonfly, Silk Screen, 150 x 80 cm, 2006



My Boston, Performance, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA , 2005



Window, Shanghai, China, 2004



Peace, Cast Bronze Bell and Cast Bronze Body, 2003



Seeds of Hamburg, Performance, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany, 2002



My New York, Performance, Whitney Museum, New York, USA, 2002



Rubens, Cast Bronze Body, Life Size, 2000



Chickenpox, New York, USA, 2000



Foam, Beijing, China, 1998



Skin, Beijing, China, 1997



To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond, Performance, Beijing, China, 1997



To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain, Performance, Beijing, China, 1995



12m2, Performance, Beijing, China, 1994



The Third Leg, Beijing, China, 1993

Exhibition list
Solo Exhibitions:

2008
Zhang Huan: Blessings, Pace Wildenstein, New York, USA
Zhang Huan: Altered States, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

2007
Zhang Huan, Asia Society, New York, USA
Zhang Huan: Ash, Haunch of Venison, London, England
Zhang Huan: Berlin Buddha, Haunch of Venison, Berlin, Germany
Zhang Huan, PhotoEspana 2007, Madrid, Spain
Zhang Huan-Drawings, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, Germany

2006
Zhang Huan, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, Germany
Zhang Huan, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia

2005
Zhang Huan: Seeds of Hamburg, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

2004
Zhang Huan: Seeds of Hamburg, Norton Museum of Art, Florida, USA
Zhang Huan, La Fabrica Galeria, Madrid, Spain
Zhang Huan, Tri Postal, Lille 2004, Cultural Capital of Europe, Lille, France

2003
Zhang Huan, Bochum Museum, Bochum, Germany
Zhang Huan, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, Germany
Zhang Huan, Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Danmark

2002
Zhang Huan, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

2001
Zhang Huan, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, USA
Zhang Huan, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Zhang Huan, Museo das Peregrinacions, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Zhang Huan: Famliy Tree, Galerie Albert Benamou, Paris, France

2000
My America, Deitch Projects, New York, USA
Zhang Huan Survey, Adam Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Zhang Huan, Cotthem Gallery, Belgium
Zhang Huan, Cotthem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

1999
Zhang Huan, Works From 1994-1998, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA
Zhang Huan: Performance on Video, Artspace, Sydney, Australia
Zhang Huan: Performance, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand

1988
Zhang Huan, He Nan University, Kai Feng, China

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