{"id":774,"date":"2008-07-17T12:33:03","date_gmt":"2008-07-17T17:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/?p=774"},"modified":"2009-06-10T12:42:33","modified_gmt":"2009-06-10T17:42:33","slug":"zhang-huan-blessings-at-pacewildenstein-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/17\/zhang-huan-blessings-at-pacewildenstein-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhang Huan, “Blessings” at PaceWildenstein Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Zhang<\/a><\/p>\n

After he moved to Shanghai from New York in 2005, Chinese art star Zhang Huan<\/a> hired a huge staff to man a factory-like studio; the enormous installations that fill PaceWildenstein\u2019s two downtown galleries give ample evidence of the scale of his industry since. But the new work lacks Zhang\u2019s signature risk-taking, making it feel safe, easy to consume\u2014and fashionably \u201cChinese.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s centerpiece, a nearly 60-foot-long \u201cpainting,\u201d is as interesting for the technique used to create it (carefully spread ash from burnt temple offerings) as for what it depicts: an ambitious Mao-era canal project with potential correlations to ambitious contemporary undertakings such as China\u2019s massive Three Gorges Dam. Zhang\u2019s recycling is also conceptually engaging\u2014using highly symbolic spent materials to create something new, which, in turn, refers to the past. But in light of the artist\u2019s past performance-art pieces, for which he coated himself in fish, oil and honey in a public latrine, or donned a \u201cmuscle\u201d suit made of raw meat, the ash paintings lack any sense of transgression.<\/p>\n

Likewise, a series of \u201cMemory Doors\u201d\u2014intricate carvings made over historical photos adhered to ancient wooden doors\u2014are beautifully crafted, but their subject matter (peddlers overloaded with wares, farmers loading a truck) is more illustrative of China\u2019s shifting economy than particularly illuminating in an art sense. Ironically, the show\u2019s most ambiguous piece\u2014a pregnant giant, covered by animal hides and slumped as if heavily burdened\u2014might symbolize China\u2019s imperiled natural world, but it could also stand in for the unfortunate taming of one of China\u2019s most provocative artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After he moved to Shanghai from New York in 2005, Chinese art star Zhang Huan hired a huge staff to man a factory-like studio; the enormous installations that fill PaceWildenstein\u2019s two downtown galleries give ample evidence of the scale of his industry since. But the new work lacks Zhang\u2019s signature risk-taking, making it feel safe, … <\/p>\n

Read more “Zhang Huan, “Blessings” at PaceWildenstein Gallery”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,1],"tags":[18,9,15,14,13,36,33,17,10,16,34,35],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-artist","tag-contemporary","tag-critic","tag-exhibition","tag-gallery","tag-new-york-city","tag-painting","tag-photography","tag-sculpture","tag-tour","tag-tours","tag-visual-arts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BDOD-cu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}