Zhang Huan: The Eternal Fetal Movement

Yvon Lambert presents The Eternal Fetal Movement by Chinese artist Zhang Huan during FIAC.

This monumental installation, just like a circular room, embodies an eternal, solemn and respectful meditation place. Composed of an opening structure in eucalyptus wood of a diameter of 9.5 meters (354,33 inch) and high 3.61 meters (142,1 inch), this installation contains 4557 drawers.

Inspired by the form and function of traditional Chinese medicine cabinets, the artwork becomes a maternal body enveloping the visitor and the holder of warm feelings, care and security. The prevalent themes, characterizing the entire work of Zhang Huan, are at the same time universal and contextual such as birth, illness, death and reincarnation.

Zhang Huan, outstanding key figure of Chinese and International contemporary art, is now considered as one of the most important artists of his generation. Precursor artist of the performance movement in China, he moves to New York in 1988, where, until his return to China in 2006, he creates a subversive work where the human body is always push to its limits.

He pursues, now, his aesthetics researches around the use of paint, photography, sculpture and installation, using materials like burned incense ashes in Buddhism temples, animal skin, bronze and copper or elements strictly coming from traditional handicrafts. This variety of mode of expression allows him to deal with different subjects – landscapes, portraits or revisited Buddhism statuary – in order to take a look at actual China and the relation the country has with its cultural and religious heritage.