Zhang Huan

Asia Society has a very in your face exhibit by performance artist Zhang Huan. His use of his own body in often torturous ways was painful, but his art is strong and powerful. Also the inclusion of Tibet (the Buddha's hands) is seminal for any thinking Chinese Artist.

Here is a review from the NYT.

Mr. Zhang’s art first became “Chinese” in a way that Westerners might understand the term when he visited the United States in 1998 for a solo performance at P.S. 1. as part of “Inside Out.” The piece he did, “Pilgrimage: Wind and Water in New York,” was conceived around a central prop: a traditional Chinese bed with blocks of ice in place of a mattress. Accompanied by recorded Tibetan music, he made his way across P.S. 1’s courtyard in a series of Buddhist-style prostrations until he reached the bed. Then he undressed, lay face-down on the ice, and stayed prone for 10 minutes. When he could endure the cold no longer, he sat up, faced his audience, and the piece — part ritual, part ordeal — was over.

Critics, especially in China, have accused émigré artists of pandering to Western concepts of Chineseness. And it is easy to see how a performance like this one, with its Orientalist appurtenances , might illustrate their point. But like all of Mr. Zhang’s best work, “Pilgrimage” skirted pretension by being direct and plain, and by posing questions rather than making statements.


How does a person translate himself from one strong culture to another, it seemed to ask. Can he melt into the new culture or will he be frozen out? Can he relinquish the culture he came from or will he find himself identifying with it more strongly than he had before?

These questions had personal importance for Mr. Zhang after he relocated to New York the same year. They are recurrent subjects of the art he made here and are most succinctly addressed in pieces like “ ½” (1998) and “Family Tree” (2000). These pieces are essentially performances for the camera. But while Mr. Zhang’s body is the main image, the action — and this will become increasingly true — is done by assistants.