Buddhist Monk and Master Artist, Zhang Huan Creates a Hallucinatory Blaze, via Tibetan Ritual
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Barbara Pollack
NEW YORK---Damien Hirst once encrusted a skull with diamonds, and Takashi Murakami has turned out canvases with cartoon versions of skulls. But when the artist Zhang Huan addresses similar iconography, he creates paintings in a style all their own. Sitting in his Shanghai studio one day recently amid dozens of Tibetan death masks, he was busy preparing for the opening on Friday of “Poppy Fields” an exhibition of new works at the Pace Gallery in Chelsea. “The paintings represent the hallucination of happiness and the hallucination of fear and loneliness in this life as well as the hallucination of happiness in the next life,” Mr. Zhang said. Buddhism and death rituals have been abiding subjects for Mr. Zhang, who was ordained as a Buddhist monk eight years ago. [link]
By Barbara Pollack
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| The Poppy Route: The artist Zhang Huan paints vibrant skulls in a new solo show at Pace Gallery (Ends Oct. 26) |