19 Facts About Zhang Huan

Zhang Huan is a Chinese artist based in Shanghai and New York City.

Zhang Huan began his career as a painter and then transitioned to performance art before making a comeback to painting.

Zhang Huan is primarily known for his performance work, but makes photographs and sculpture.

Zhang Huan helped to establish a small artistic community known as the Beijing East Village, located on the margins of the city.

The group of friends from art school pioneered this particular brand of performance in China and Zhang Huan was often reprimanded by officials for the perceived inappropriateness of his actions.

Zhang Huan's skin was wet and covered with flies, having been smeared with honey and fishy liquid.

Zhang Huan's face looked blank but tough, as if he were trying to meditate his way through pain.

Zhang Huan returned to China in 2006 and took up sculpture after converting to Buddhism.

Zhang Huan involves the body in his sculptures; his earliest sculptures were giant copper hands and feet, magnified versions of fragments of broken Buddhist figures that he found in Tibet.

Zhang Huan uses simple repetitive gestures, usually regarded as meaningless work-for-work's-sake chores.

Zhang Huan has exhibited at shows including the 2002 Whitney Biennial and Rituals at the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin.

Zhang Huan placed a giant white canvas on the floor of the exhibition space, then stepped out of the exhibition area and had a jar of red liquid and mangled doll parts poured over him.

Zhang Huan grew up with the experience of living in a crowded village area.

Zhang Huan did not have much space for himself, which impressed the idea of China's overpopulation on him at young age.

In 1994, Zhang Huan was in a small village in China and needed to use a restroom after lunch.

Zhang Huan found a public restroom just off the street and went on in.

Zhang Huan sat on the toilet, almost immobile for an hour.

Peace is another non-performance art work that Zhang Huan did in order to create a symbolic self-portrait of himself.

Again, in order to pay respect to his ancestors, Zhang Huan had the bell inscribed with names from eight generations of his ancestors.