Lapses in Thinking by the Person I Am Cca Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts San Francisco

ARTIST Profile

ZHANG HUAN
Born 1963, China

Zhang Huan lived in Beijing for seven years before moving to New York in 1998. He is known for documented performance works addressing issues of political and social repression. For example, a 1994 performance in a public toilet in a poor area of Beijing referenced the abortions and female infanticides resulting from the Chinese government�southward �one child� policy. Covering himself with love and fish oil, the creative person saturday motionless for several hours attracting flies and ants before immersing himself in a nearby river. He came to international prominence when photographs of the grouping performance, To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond, were included in Within Out, an exhibition of avant-garde Chinese art originating in New York in 1997. His ascendancy was assured with representation in the 1999 Biennale of Venice. In 2000, Zhang Huan involved local people and a flock of sheep for his performance, My Australia, enacted in the Sculpture Park at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra for the opening of Inside Out.

The starting point of Zhang Huan�s piece of work has e'er been the language of his own body, at times subjected to extreme physical stress to experience spiritual states. He refers to his art as a �primitive act�, in melody with nature rather than applied science.

BIOGRAPHY
1963 Born in An Yang City, He An Province, China
1988�91 Bachelor of Arts, He Nan Academy, Kay Feng, China
1991�93 Master of Arts, Primal Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
1996 Moved to New York, United states of america
Lives and works in New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
2007 Ash, Haunch of Venison, London
2006 Zhang Huan, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
Zhang Huan, Galeries Volker Diehl, Berlin
2005 My Switzerland (performance), Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
Seeds of Hamburg, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
My Boston (performance), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
My Rome (performance), Musei Capitolini, Rome
2004 Zhang Huan, Tri Postal, Lille 2004 Cultural Majuscule of Europe, Lille, France
Zhang Huan, La Fabrica Galeria, Madrid
My Sydney (performance), Museum of Gimmicky Art, Sydney
Seeds of Hamburg, Norton Museum of Art, Westward Palm Embankment, Florida
Window (operation), Shanghai, People's republic of china
2003 Fifty Stars (functioning), Contemporary Arts Eye, Cincinnati
Buddhist Relics (performance), DiverseWorks Artspace, Houston
eighteen Years One-time (performance), Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, Kingdom of denmark
Peace (performance), presented by Creative Fourth dimension Inc., Art on the Plaza, New York
Zhang Huan, Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Heart, Denmark
Zhang Huan, Bochum Museum, Bochum, Frg
Zhang Huan, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin
2002 My New York (functioning), Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York
Zhang Huan, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
Seeds of Hamburg (performance), Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
2001 My Japan (functioning), International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Yokohama, Japan
Zhang Huan, The Power Plant Contemporary Fine art Gallery, Toronto
Pilgrimage to Santiago (performance), Museo das Perigrinaci�ns, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Zhang Huan: Family Tree, Galerie Albert Benamou, Paris, France
Zhang Huan, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York
2000 Flowers (functioning), Helsingborg Museum, Sweden
Family unit Tree (performance), New York
Rubens (operation), Parkabdij, Heverlee, Belgium
My Australia (performance), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Rubens (performance), SMAK Museum, Ghent, Belgium
Zhang Huan Survey, Adam Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
My America, Deitch Projects, New York
Zhang Huan, Cotthem Gallery, Knokke-Zoute, Belgium
Chickenpox (operation), New York
Zhang Huan, Cotthem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
1999 Zhang Huan Works from 1994�1998, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
Zhang Huan: Operation, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
Breath Serial, Miami, Florida
Sunshine (performance), Concept Photograph, New York
Incompatible as Fire and Water (performance), Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida
Zhang Huan: Functioning on Video, Artspace, Sydney
My America (Hard to Acclimatise), Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
Dream of Dragon (performance), Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
1998 1/two Serial (operation), Beijing
Pilgrimage: Wind and Water on New York (performance), P.South.1, New York
Foam Series (functioning), Beijing
1997 To Raise the Water Level in a Fish Swimming (performance), Beijing
3006M/three=65KG (operation), Watari Museum, Tokyo
1995 Nine Holes (functioning), Beijing
To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain (functioning), Beijing
25mm Threading Steel (performance), Beijing
Concept and Participation in the Original Sound, 10 Artists Performing Individually on a Common Theme in a Given Place (functioning), Dong Bian Men, Beijing
1994 65KG (functioning), Private Studio, Beijing Eastward Village, Beijing
12 Square Meters (performance), Public Toilet, Beijing East Hamlet, Beijing
1993 Angel (operation), Red china National Art Gallery, Beijing

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2006 Shoot the Family unit, Cranbrook Art Museum, Michigan
Making a Scene, Haifa Museum of Fine art, Haifa, Israel
MiArt, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Milan
Arte Fiera, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Bologna
Reverence, Hudson Valley Heart for Contemporary Art, New York
Fever Variations, 6th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea
Radar: Selections from the Logan Collection, Denver Fine art Museum, Colorado
2005 Locus Lophem 2005, Kunsthalle Lophem, Lophem, Belgium
Person of the Oversupply, Gimmicky Art Museum, Maryland
On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists See the Westward, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Centre for Arts, Stanford University, California
Text Me: An Exploration of Torso Language, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
The Slap-up Beyond, Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun, Switzerland
Mahjong: Gimmicky Chinese Art, Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
Monuments for the USA, CCA Wattis Plant Contemporary Arts, San Francisco
The Pictures of Dorian Gray, Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico
The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art, People's republic of china Millennium Monument Art Gallery, Beijing
Time to come Face, National Museum of Natural Science, Taipei, Taiwan
The Museum Collections, Centre Pompidou, Paris, French republic
Between Skin and Orgasm: The Alchemistic Torso, Kunsthalle Lophem, Lophem, Kingdom of belgium
Fusion: Aspects of Asian Culture in the MUSAC Collection, Museo de Arte Contempor�neo de Castilla y Le�n, Spain
2004 Neither Here Nor At that place, Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville
Witness, Museum of Contemporary Fine art, Sydney
Face/off, The Association of Arts and crafts, Pforzheim, Germany
Constructed Identities, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita Land University, USA
Dialogue with Popular: The Tank, Spaceworks Gallery, New York
Photographic camera/Activity: Functioning and Photography, The Museum of Gimmicky Photography, Columbia College Chicago
Anthro/Socio, The Creative person Network, New York
Queens International 2004, Queens Museum of Art, New York
Betwixt Past and Future: New Photography and Video from Mainland china, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; International Center of Photography, New York
Regeneration, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Pennsylvania
The Amazing and the Immutable, Contemporary Art Museum, Academy of Due south Florida
Supernova: Art of the 1990s from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Franciso
The Art Project Goetzen, Houses of an Idol, Slubice, Poland; Frankfurt, Germany
Me, Myself & I, Florida Atlantic University, Florida
2003 Phantom of Desire: Visions of Masochism in Art, Neue Galerie, Graz, Republic of austria
Me and More than, Museum of Art Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
Come Rally, Basque Museum of Contemporary Art, Vitoria, Espana
Skin Deep, Museo di Arte Moderna eContemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy
Performance and Virtually Performance, Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid
Claret Lines and Connections, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Colorado
Full Frontal: Contemporary Asian Artists from the Logan Drove, Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Spiders and Flies, Newcontemporaries, Sydney
Photo Espa�a 2003, International Photography Festival, Madrid
Banquet, Metabolism and Advice, ZKM Middle for Fine art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
Somewhere Better Than This Place, The Contemporary Arts Middle, Cincinnati
2003 Beaufort, Triennial for Gimmicky Fine art by the Sea, PMMK, Museum of Modern Art, Confirm, Belgium
Art Project, Diverse Works Art Space, Houston
Temporal Mood, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston
Rituals, Academy of Arts, Berlin
Family Ties, Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts
Trunk Politics, Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York
Windstil, Cotthem Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
MiArt, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Milan
Arte Fiera, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Bologna
New Zone, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
BQE, White Box, New York
2002 The Souvenir, Generous offerings, Threatening Hospitality, The Bronx Museum of Art, New York
Cathay Contemporary Fine art Exhibition: Scarlet Continent, Gwangju Art Museum, Korea
Daze and Show, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italy
2002 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Subjectivity: Photographs of Themselves, Arizona Country Museum, Academy of Arizona, Tucson
Peel Talks, Mus�e de la Civilisation, Quebec, Canada
SAM Collects, Gimmicky Fine art Projects, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
Artissima, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Torino, Italy
La Mirada Ajena, Basque Museum of Contemporary Art, Vitoria, Espana
Paisajes del Cuerpo, Sala Zapateria 40, Pamplona, Espana
Zipper +, Kunsthalle Lophem, Lophem, Belgium
2001 Towards a New Synthesis: Yokohama 2001 International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall, Yokohama, touring to Queens Museum of Art, New York
The Gift: Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality, Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena Center of Contemporary Art, Italy
Metamorphosis and Cloning, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada
Subject Plural: Crowds in Contemporary Fine art, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
Translated Acts, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Naked, Woods Street Galleries, Pittsburgh
Lateral Thinking: Art of the 1990s, Museum of Gimmicky Fine art, San Diego
2000 Supermodel: Identity and Transformation, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italia
Sharing Exoticisms, fifth Biennale de Lyon, France
Waterfront-Cultural Bridge 2000, Helsinborg Museum, Sweden and Denmark
Betreff: Expo 2000, Themenpark, Bones Needs, Hannover, Germany
Utopia, Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger, Norway
Emotional Rescue: The Contemporary Art Projection, Middle of Gimmicky Fine art, Seattle
On the Edge of the Western World, Yerba Buena Eye of the Arts, San Francisco
Art and Religion, Parkabdij Heverlee, Heverlee, Belgium
The Standard Projection: 24/vii, The Standard Hotel, Los Angeles
Video via Venice, Establish of Gimmicky Art, Boston
Socialisms, Special Exhibition, Stockholm Fine art Fair, Sweden
half dozen Signals: Video by Contemporary Artists, Cheekwood, Nashville
Potent/Present: Selections from the Kent and Vicki Logan Collection, CCAC Establish, Oakland
Contempo Acquisitions from The Doron Sebbag Fine art Drove, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
1999 Stories, A/C Projects, New York
Contemporary Collectors, Museum of Gimmicky Fine art, San Diego
Transience: Chinese Art at the End of the 20th Century, The Smart Museum of Art, Chicago
Acme, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, Austria
In Your Confront, New Langton Arts, San Francisco
48th Biennale of Venice, Venice, Italy
All-time of the Flavor, Aldrich Museum of Gimmicky Fine art, Ridgefield, Connecticut
Five Continents and a City: Second International Salon of Painting, Museum of United mexican states City, Mexico
Self-Portrait, Mercer Union-Heart for Gimmicky Art, Toronto, Canada
Last Paradise, Presenca Galeria, Porto, Portugal
Zhang Huan: A Video Survey 1994�1998, Govett-Brewster Fine art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Take chances Cinema, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
The Century of the Body: Photoworks 1900�2000, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal; Mus�e de 50'Elys�eastward, Lausanne, Switzerland
Art Worlds in Dialogue, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany
1998 Inside Out: New Chinese Art, Asia Society, New York, PS one Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Mod Art, San Franciso
In Your Face up, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
1997 Chinese Contemporary Art 1997, Watari Museum, Tokyo
1996 Fine art Textile of China, Avant-Garde, Fugang, Tokyo
China Art Festival, Munich, Federal republic of germany
1995 Configura 2, Erfurt, Germany
1994 Graduate Bear witness, Fundamental Academy of Fine Art, Beijing

PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Center of Contemporary Art, Malaga, Spain; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, Kingdom of spain; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Fukuoka Art Museum, Nippon; Hara Museum of Gimmicky Art, Tokyo; State of israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Fine art Lucerne, Switzerland; Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California; Museum of Contemporary Art, Leon, Spain; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Embankment, Florida; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; Pompidou Center, Paris; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; South.Yard.A.K., Ghent, Belgium; Buffalo University, Buffalo; Henry Fine art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA; Smart Museum of Fine art, University of Chicago; Ulrich Museum of Fine art, Wichita Land Academy; Academy Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley; Yale University, New Oasis; Emily Fisher Landau Collection, New York; Kent and Vicki Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Marieluise Hessel Foundation Collection, Center Curatorial Studies, New York; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Doron Sebbag Art Collection, Tel Aviv; Capital letter Research Company Drove, Hong Kong; Progressive Corporate Fine art Drove, Mayfield Village, USA; REFCO Inc., Chicago; and private and corporate collections worldwide.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chin-Chin Yap, �The case of the readymade mountain�, Art AsiaPacific, no. 55, September�October 2007, pp. 86�87
David Teh, �Zhang Huan: Thinking large�, Art AsiaPacific, no. 55, September�Oct 2007, pp. 110�111
Elaine Westward. Ng, �Summertime rut on the block�, Fine art AsiaPacific, no. 55, September�October 2007, pp. 94�95
Lyndall Crisp, �Water course: Brisbane goes with the flow�, Arts, Australian Financial Review, 2 Baronial 2007, p. 48
Sebastian Smee, �Beastly goings on�, illus., Review, Weekend Australian, ten�11 March 2007, p. xviii
Tracey Clement, �Migrating within�, Metropicks, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March 2007, p. 27
�Australia�, Fine art Asia Pacific Almanac 2007, summertime 2006-07, p. 113
Katrina Strickland, �Candle in the wind�, Australian Financial Review, vii December 2006, p. 45
Tracey Clement, �Zhang Huan�, Metro Picks, Sydney Morning Herald, 1�7 December 2006, p. 27
Robert Ayers, �Zhang Huan�, Reviews: New York, Artnews, December 2006, pp. 152�3
Clare Morgan, �Artist�s vision for modify�, Arts & Entertainment, Sydney Morning Herald, seven Nov 2006, p. 14
Michael Desmond, �Zhang Huan�, Zhang Huan, catalogue essay, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 2006
Felicity Fenner, �Gwangju Biennale�, Fine art & Australia, vol. 44, no. ii, summer 2006�07, pp. 186�7
Gene Sherman, �China rocks�, Australian Art Market Report, no. 22, summertime 2006�07, pp. 34�five
Don J. Cohn & Elaine W. Ng, �Fall auction study: An up and downward affair�, ArtAsiaPacific, Spirituality issue, no. 51, winter 2007, pp. 56�7
Hiroshi Sunairi, �Buddha mind in contemporary art�, ArtAsiaPacific, Spirituality result, no. 51, winter 2007, p. 128
Margaret Marsh, Michele Watts and Craig Malyon, A.R.T. 2 Do, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2005, p. 87

peytonwinglersen.blogspot.com

Source: http://shermangalleries.sherman-scaf.org.au/artists/inartists/artist_profile.asp%3Fartist=huanz.html