Zhang Huan Sothebys.

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CA2013 Zhang Huan Submitted to Sotheby’s Institute of Art on July 27 th 2012

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Zhang Huan Sothebys.

Transcript of Zhang Huan Sothebys.

CA2013

Zhang Huan

Submitted to Sothebys Institute of Art on July 27th 2012

Zhang Huan has emerged as one of the most important and influential artists of his time, a fearless explorer of the extreme limits of the human body and a key figure in the flourishing Chinese art scene. His earliest performances subjected his body to dreadful tests of endurance while tackling the relationship between physical abilities and spiritual tranquility, addressing a wide spectrum of China-related issues. The following essay will attempt to analyze and understand his artwork: the first part will look at the use of his body as a medium and the importance that it has taken in his practice, followed by the themes of torture and spirituality he expresses and closing with his more recent work and the shift in the use of his tools.

An important and distinguishing aspect of Zhang Huans practice is his use of a broad spectrum of mediums including video, installations, sculptures, performance, sketching, paintings, and prints. It is through these expressive languages that Huan looks into the complex understanding of the self and thus addresses the universal concept of identity. Whether about social, political, economical or cultural questions, he comments on everyday issues of life in China, such as overpopulation, family planning, urban immigration, and especially poverty. Performance art appears to be one the most expressive mediums in which he seems to thrive. The simple choice of that medium already presents us with a greater contrast in Huans work; he chooses performance, a rather new, contemporary practice, to comment on traditional and old issues in China. Making us reflect on what is new, what is old and what is yet to come.

I. Understanding the context in which Zhang Huan works and the importance of the use of the body as a medium

In 1994, Zhang performs 65KG, taking place in his own studio in Beijing. This was the first the first time he incorporated other people, not so much as performers, but as assistants in the realization of his work. The title of this piece announces Huans weight. He physically hung himself horizontally from the ceiling, facing the floor covered in closely placed hospital mattresses. He was wrapped in chains, cutting his skin and making his blood drip onto a heated plate, filling the place with an unbearable smell of blood and sweat[footnoteRef:1]. [1: Yilmaz Dziewior, Roselee Goldberg, Robert Storr (2009), Zhang Huan, London :Paidon, p.47]

Huan had to put himself into a meditative condition in order to endure the physical pain. The viewers are directly immerged in the work, and forcefully made part of the piece. The whole room becomes not so much a performance, but more of an installation, which the artist and the viewers become involuntarily part of, blurring the lines between the different mediums and what becomes voluntary. Zhang repeatedly exposes himself to extreme situations, emphasizing the sense of self-torture. By looking at such a performance, the viewer cannot help but be affected by the work, not only psychologically but physically because of their olfactory perception. Their instinctive reactions are therefore instantly activated. It is important to note that Zhang had the viewers, the photographers, the doctors and everyone in the room placed on the mattresses, in a too close for comfort kind of way, making them unable to distance themselves from the piece, hence having to forcefully interact with the sight, the smell and the discomfort of the Figure 1, Zhang Huan, "65KG", 1994 - Beijing

oppressive space in which they find themselves. Thus not only does he use his own body as a medium, he also uses the bodies of the viewers, who remain unaware of this fact until halfway through the performance when they become aware of their own bodies, their position in space and in the world, and when they almost begin to feel the same pain as Huan. Trapped in the room, they have nowhere to escape, the same way they have no way to escape reality. Zhang says As I looked down onto the audience from where I was hung, I felt as if they were just as bound as I was.[footnoteRef:2] Through this piece, Zhang is referencing the horrific tragedies of the Cultural Revolution and the inevitable effects on the following generations, by creating this shared experience, simulating the effects on those forced to witness the cruelty of Chinas past. Huan therefore uses all of the senses in the room to create an atmosphere and thus this all becomes the work. He creates a universal experience, which we can all feel as human beings, through the extreme use of his body. This feeling becomes evident in his comment on 65KG : I just felt that everything began to vanish from my sight. Life seemed to be leaving me far in the distance. I had no concrete thought. The very concept of life was then for me the simple experience of the body.[footnoteRef:3] [2: Qian Zhijian, Art Journal, Interview : Performing Bodies, Summer 1999, USA] [3: Yilmaz Dziewior, Roselee Goldberg, Robert Storr (2009), Zhang Huan, London :Paidon, p.47]

The use of the body as a canvas is the core of Zhang Huans performance work. As he says in an interview with Roselee Goldberg, I had discovered that my body could become my language, it was he closest thing to who I was and it allowed me to become known to others I discovered this new vehicle, my body. It allowed me to express some very deep emotions coming from many different places.[footnoteRef:4] This idea of using the body as a vehicle goes beyond self-expression. In other words, traditional art uses paper, canvas, bronze, stone and countless medias to articulate and carry an image, which is then projected to the viewer by being placed in space. However, the use of the body allows the artist to come closer to the work, by representing the work, by becoming the work. There is something very honest and authentic, as well as extremely raw about a man using his bare body as a support to translate his thoughts. As viewers, we have no choice but to relate and interact with the work. [4: Yilmaz Dziewior, Roselee Goldberg, Robert Storr (2009), Zhang Huan, London :Paidon, p.19]

We come in contact with the artists intention on a much deeper level, as his body reminds us of our own. We become aware of ourselves, our bodies, which creates some kind of transmission between the artist and the viewer, allowing us to understand and feel what the artist himself is feeling. Therefore Huans messages and statements are more easily accessible to the spectator. Huan describes it as the body helps me to feel the experience of life, pain and pleasure, cold and heart, hunger and tickling.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Yilmaz Dziewior, Roselee Goldberg, Robert Storr (2009), Zhang Huan, London :Paidon, p.30]

II. Themes of Self-Torture and Spirituality

After World War II and the subsequent Cultural Revolution in China, an increase in the focus on the body in pain or in tortured situations becomes evident in most Asian countries contemporary artwork. Cultural discord and socio-political opposition were present in the works of artists following these eras, noticeably with the arrival of performance art in modern China in the last 25 years. As Gao Minglu explains in Pilgrimage to Santiago in 2000, the Chinese term for performance art is Xingwei Yishu, which in English means Behavioral Art.[footnoteRef:6] The concept of behavior is not limited to the physical action of the individual-China has long recognized the strong connection between art and meditation through the influence of Zen Buddhism. As in every attempt to the understanding of any piece of artwork, contexualization is essential in the analysis of their meaning. [6: Gao Minglu. (2000). Pilgrimage to Santiago. Available: http://www.zhanghuan.com/ShowText.asp?id=26&sClassID=1. Last accessed July 26th 2012.]

The understanding of performance art in China must be put in context and discussed in relation to specific historical and cultural circumstances. It has always been through the body that enlightenment and self-progress is achieved and many artists have strived to arrive at some form of empowering of the mind through their art, in hopes that through their performances, viewers will perhaps reach a similar state.This state of empowerment is sometimes achieved through a method of self-torture. In the interview by Qian Zhijian, Performing Bodies: Zhang Huan, Ma Liuming and Performance Art in China, Zhang Huan defines this as being a common phenomenon, of one having to do something one doesnt want to do.[footnoteRef:7] [7: Qian Zhijian. (1999). Performing Bodies: Zhang Huan, Ma Liuming and Performance Art in China . Art Journal. No.2, p.60.]

Zhang Huan performs 12 square meters in 1994, for which he covers himself with honey and fish oil and sits for an hour in the filthy toilets of East Village in Beijing, attracting insects. Once they completely cover his body, he gets up and slowly disappears in the disgusting pond nearby, filled with garbage and Figure 2, Zhang Huan, 12 square meters, 1994, Beijing

feces, while all the flies raise to the surface. Through this piece, Huan tackles social conditions in China by addressing the neglect of public facilities, which he and many others were forced to use in the East Village. Once again, to fight the repulsiveness of his act, Huan enters into a meditative state. Interestingly, this work, along with many others by Zhang Huan, can be compared with works by Yoko Ono, in particular her famous Cut piece, in 1964. She sat on stage with a pair of scissors on the floor beside her, inviting the audience to cut off a piece of her clothing. Aware of the possible endangerments of the situation, she remains in a serene and peaceful state of mind, like Zhang. She addresses the gendered relationship between her and the audience and comments on the relationship of the victimized woman and the empowered male. 12 square meters and Cut piece tackle the same issue of involuntary victimization of people, families, countries through voluntary victimization of the artist. Physical torture by a greater force is put into effect, emphasizing the importance of the survival of ones physical body. At first, the connection between these two pieces seems unobvious and absent, but the connection is not the method in which they are executed, but rather the mindset and objectives of these performances. Yoko Ono and Zhang share their meditative experiences with the viewers through the use of their bodies in extreme situations. Their performances integrate the viewers into the work, making the viewers aware of themselves and making them part of the gaze.

III. Moving away from performance art

In 2005, Zhang Huan returned to China after living in New York City for seven years. With this geographical change came a big shift in his work, moving from provocative performances to painting, sculpture and printmaking with the help of over a hundred assistants, allowing him to push the ambitious boundaries of his imagination. After years of doing performances, I had figured out the layers and meanings in my work. I hoped to execute these conclusions in new experiments with various art mediums.[footnoteRef:8] The artist began to consider the canvas and the object-based practice as an extension of his body and thus an extension of his previous work as a [8: Nina Miall. (2007). Zhang Huan: Ash. Available: http://www.zhanghuan.com/ShowText.asp?id=34&sClassID=1. Last accessed July 24th 2012.] Figure 3 Zhang Huan, soldiers, ash on linen, 2007

performer. Nevertheless, this more recent work continues to confront the concrete, physical world that has always driven his art-making, but moves beyond considerations of his own physicality and sense of self to a broader spectrum of questioning. What better way to illustrate this new wave of artwork than with his series of ash paintings. This new fascination for ash was discovered while burning incense at Shanghais Longhua Temple, which enlightened Huan for his extensive body of upcoming works. The use of this medium is a way for Huan to commemorate the dead: to me, ashes carry unseen sedimentary residue, and tremendous human data about the collective and individual subconscious. Incense burning touches and awakens the spiritual impulse embedded deeply in our subconscious. Therefore, the ashes produced already possess a great deal of potential for connecting the human with the spiritual.[footnoteRef:9] Left alone, the ash is already a form of art. Huan recycles it making new work from it, using its strong meaning. By using the ash, Huan creates old family photographs, which produces a relationship between the individual, facing his ancestors, and society. Unlike his performances, where he tackles traditional stories with an unconventional medium, here Huan reunites elements of history, recreating images from the past with a material from the past. [9: Nina Miall. (2007). Zhang Huan: Ash. Available: http://www.zhanghuan.com/ShowText.asp?id=34&sClassID=1. Last accessed July 24th 2012.]

This great sensitivity to such a combination fills the viewer with a strong sense of nostalgia and memory, making us travel back in time. These ashes were other peoples prayers, and Huan says something very powerful about their connotation: For me ash is not ash, nor is it a material, it is a kind of collective soul, collective memory, and collective blessing. This beautiful description of what the artist sees in his chosen medium makes us realize how much is contained in these paintings. What we are looking at is a collection of memories, of wishes, of prayers. The image carries a mysterious and powerful message about the past yet projects us into the future, kind of like the feeling we get by looking into a wishing well. Figure 4, Zhang Huan, Untitled, ash on linen, 2007

The ash represents a link between the physical and the spiritual, leaving us with an image of what has been, what could be and what eventually will be which leaves us with an impregnable sense of time. There is also a strong sense of remembrance and re-visitation of the past, a certain glorification of it, making us realize that without the sacrifices of our ancestors, the world would be a different place. Zhang Huan gives back life to the people in the photographs, giving them a new soul with the use of ash, giving a solid sense of humanity to the image, and thus to the viewer. The canvas carries hope, the canvas is hope in itself. Moreover, it is interesting to look at these paintings today, as China becomes one of the leading countries of our world, and the work makes us remember the struggles of its people. Again, the sense of hope is re-emphasized by the position in which China finds itself today, thus expanding hope not only to the Chinese, but to people worldwide.

It is crucial to understand the context in which Zhang has worked. Without this particular knowledge, his art has no impact on our souls. Zhang Huan represents a universal voice, he shows the desire to break free from the conformity and the oppression of the Chinese government. He addresses a multiple number of issues such as the complexity of identity and the struggle with the self, allowing art to reflect economical, social, political and cultural difficulties. His artwork creates a moving image of the isolation felt with the loss of ones past, which he uses to make us look into the future, leaving us with a powerful feeling of hope. He addresses the strength of unification to challenge oppressive political regimes, the status of an expatriate in a new moving global culture, the persistence in faith and belief by communities undermined by violent conflicts, and the place of censorship in a contextualized contemporary democracy. Zhang Huan constantly combines socio-economic issues with personal feelings, in each and every piece of his work. Perhaps he now offers a model for the Chinese art world, encouraging its citizens to speak the unspeakable, creating a new culture not by abandoning the past, but by re-imagining it and glorifying its memories.

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