Featured Artist - Zhang Huan

Zhang Huan, 張洹; born 1965, is an internationally known contemporary Chinese artist whose work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums both in China and in the West. He is best known as a performance artist in the West, making pieces involving his own body and that of others and often subjecting them to extreme conditions. However, even during this period of his work, Zhang Huan has always tried to show spiritual being manifesting itself through bodily suffering. In recent years his artwork has taken a more obvious spiritual turn, using ash from temple incense and often referring to Buddhist themes and images expressing the transitory character of human life.