Three Heads Six Arms, 2008, currently displayed in the Civic Center plaza in San Francisco, reflects the shift away from performance art to sculpture. In place of his own body, Zhang build a 26’3 x 59’ x 32’9-3/4” copper sculpture of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, with six arms and three heads. “Bodhisattvas are future Buddha’s whose role it is to help all sentient beings along their paths to Buddhahood.”[1] One of the heads is a portrait of Zhang himself. The inspiration came from finding broken Buddhist statues in a Tibetan market. Broken during the Cultural Revolution, these Buddhist statue fragments represent to the artist the destruction of the Chinese culture during the Mao era. [2] But in these Buddhist fragmented sculptures, Zhang saw that they were still potent images. The incorporation of his own portrait emphasizes the idea of Buddhism as a part of Zhang’s individual memory and thus part of his cultural identity. Zhang appropriates the image of the Bodhisattva not as a reference to principles of Buddhism, but as a means to construct his own personal identity.
The use of Buddhist references in the work of Zhang is not to convey the principles of Buddhism but is used as a way to construct his personal identity. The basic philosophy of Buddhism is to end the endless cycles of rebirth and enter nirvana through the suppression of the individual (ego). The work of Zhang portrays the opposite, as his work is a search for his individuality.
Throughout his oeuvre, Zhang Huan portrays the notion of identity as a ‘production’ whether in Beijing, New York, and Shanghai. While in Beijing, Zhang Huan used performance as a means to make political statements and express his individuality, a radical statement in an oppressive state. The work produced in New York explores feelings of isolation due to the Diaspora experience. His most recent work produced since returning to Shanghai reflects the search for his cultural identity through recollection and memory. Not only do changing political and social conditions play a key role in the work of Zhang Huan but location whether in Beijing, New York, or Shanghai greatly informed the ‘production’ of Zhang Huan’s identity.
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