Zhang Huan

Living towards Nothingness

Past
Sep 2 – Sep 19, 2021
East Hampton

Living towards Nothingness features works from Zhang Huan’s celebrated Ash Painting series, which the artist began in 2005 as part of his explorations of ephemerality.

Exhibition Details

Zhang Huan
Living towards Nothingness
Sep 2 - 19, 2021

Above: Zhang Huan, Sea No. 18, 2012, incense ash on linen, 59-1/16" × 9' 2-1/4" (150 cm × 280 cm) © Zhang Huan

Gallery

68 Park Place
East Hampton

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"Pure and clean is the lotus,
Each petal supports hundreds of millions of worlds.
Carried by prayer wheels that spin day and night,
They grow out of the Xiang Ocean and expand endlessly."

The Praise of Painting on Vairocana’s Akanistha Ghanavyuha by Yuxi Liu

Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of four paintings by Zhang Huan at its East Hampton gallery from September 2 to 19. The show, titled Living towards Nothingness, will feature works from Zhang’s celebrated Ash Painting series, which the artist began in 2005 as part of his explorations of ephemerality. Drawn from a body of 30 paintings featuring semi-abstracted depictions of the sea rendered in incense ash on linen, this grouping includes works from 2011 and 2012.

Zhang, who has collected ashes from temples in Shanghai and nearby provinces and maintains a warehouse for the material, has said that “incense burning awakens the spiritual impulse embedded deeply in our subconscious.” In Zhang’s belief, incense ash “speaks to the fulfillment of millions of hopes, dreams, and blessings” and serves as a material embodiment of prayers and their makers. The series is deeply engaged with the artist’s Buddhist practice, and he uses different tones, gradients, and textures of ash to forge his contemplative works. The artist presented a selection of Ash Paintings at his 2020 survey at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. With that exhibition, Zhang became the first Chinese contemporary artist to have a solo exhibition at the Russian institution.