Zhang Huan

Was born in An Yang City (1965), in the province
of He Nan. After finishing his studies
at the Beijing Academy of Fine Art, five years elapsed before he first visited New York in 1998.
For Huan, America was a place in which to take risks, to experiment with what he could not do in his own country. Meanwhile the frenetic almost inhuman pace of the city increased his sense of belonging
to a culture which favours meditation, reflection,
and quality rather than quantity when it comes
to time management.

The artist's interest in humans and the human body became key. He sees the body as the most genuine expression of identity, the physical seat of suffering but also of joy, frustration and exaltation.
Since that visit to New York, eleven years have passed during which the artist has staged dozens
and dozens of performances, appearing as the protagonist or in a secondary role, featuring a proud, majestic form of nudity loaded with meaning and metaphor.

Chameleon-like, he ventures from painting
to sculpture (including large-scale works)
to photography.
As the years have added up so have the number
of his worthy collaborators, with whom he has
set up a studio in a disused industrial warehouse
in Shanghai.

www.zhanghuan.com