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Zhang Huan. Hermitage Buddha
Exhibition September 8, 2020 − April 4, 2021
The State Hermitage Museum presents the exhibition “Zhang Huan. Hermitage Buddha ".
The project is timed to the exhibition of the artist's works, which took place in the Nicholas Hall of the Hermitage. Conflict of beliefs is concentrated in the image of the Hermitage Buddha as a giant mythical monster from outer space that undermines reality. According to the author, “The Hermitage Buddha demonstrates the animal state of human nature. One leg of the beast strides over the head of a man who wants to escape from the eighteen layers of hell and come into the world from the other world. This is a kind of contradiction, a duel to prevent people from returning to Heaven. "
In 2005, Zhang Huan founded his studio in Shanghai, where he began to create paintings and sculptures. Many of them are closely related to Chinese beliefs and traditions. Their reinterpretation came as he visited sacred places in China, such as the unique Dunhuang complex, known as the "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas." A committed Buddhist and connoisseur of Buddhist iconography, Zhang Huan made religious and mystical themes key in his work. His unique ash paintings brought new vitality to the art world.
Since the 2000s, the artist has been working on large sculptural structures. He creates large-scale images of Buddha from a variety of materials, including copper, wood, clay, animal skins. Copper allows the author to fantastically combine several curly elements at once and reassemble "32 signs of the body of a great man" - the most complete of the surviving early Buddhist canons. Among other things, the Buddha is distinguished by the massiveness of the figure, the correct swelling of the arms and legs, the bulge of body parts, the golden color of the skin, the roundness of the wrists, the ear on the head, the eyelashes of the eyes like a bull, etc. 80 secondary signs of the Buddha's body are also seen here: long and wide hands, symmetrical fingers, copper-colored nails, big eyes, soft eyebrows, wide forehead, etc.
Prepared based on materials from the official website of the museum The State Hermitage Museum.
The project is timed to the exhibition of the artist's works, which took place in the Nicholas Hall of the Hermitage. Conflict of beliefs is concentrated in the image of the Hermitage Buddha as a giant mythical monster from outer space that undermines reality. According to the author, “The Hermitage Buddha demonstrates the animal state of human nature. One leg of the beast strides over the head of a man who wants to escape from the eighteen layers of hell and come into the world from the other world. This is a kind of contradiction, a duel to prevent people from returning to Heaven. "
In 2005, Zhang Huan founded his studio in Shanghai, where he began to create paintings and sculptures. Many of them are closely related to Chinese beliefs and traditions. Their reinterpretation came as he visited sacred places in China, such as the unique Dunhuang complex, known as the "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas." A committed Buddhist and connoisseur of Buddhist iconography, Zhang Huan made religious and mystical themes key in his work. His unique ash paintings brought new vitality to the art world.
Since the 2000s, the artist has been working on large sculptural structures. He creates large-scale images of Buddha from a variety of materials, including copper, wood, clay, animal skins. Copper allows the author to fantastically combine several curly elements at once and reassemble "32 signs of the body of a great man" - the most complete of the surviving early Buddhist canons. Among other things, the Buddha is distinguished by the massiveness of the figure, the correct swelling of the arms and legs, the bulge of body parts, the golden color of the skin, the roundness of the wrists, the ear on the head, the eyelashes of the eyes like a bull, etc. 80 secondary signs of the Buddha's body are also seen here: long and wide hands, symmetrical fingers, copper-colored nails, big eyes, soft eyebrows, wide forehead, etc.
Prepared based on materials from the official website of the museum The State Hermitage Museum.
