Zhang Huan

Private Collection, New York

This work is in very good condition. There are no apparent condition problems with this work. Framed under Plexiglas. Not examined out of the frame.
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Zhang Huan created My New York in 2002 as part of that year's Whitney Biennial. For this work he was covered with a white cloth and carried out to the museum courtyard on a palanquin. The cloth was removed to reveal the artist draped in raw steaks, which gave Zhang Huan's slight physique the appearance of pumped-up bodybuilder. Set down on the ground, he began to walk through the crowd and distribute white doves to various bystanders, who set them free. After crossing the street and circling the museum, Zhang Huan disappeared back into the museum, signaling the end of the performance. My New York brought together several ideas. The steak suit created a protective shell that gave Zhang Huan a formidable presence. However, its raw red surface also suggested a flayed body and reduced the artist to an almost animal-like condition. The doves, a symbol of reconciliation and liberation, referenced the Buddhist tradition of setting live animals free to accumulate grace. Thus for Zhang Huan, this work again summed up a series of mixed feelings about his complex relationship to his adopted city. 
Eleanor Heartney (Exh.Cat., New York, Asia Society, Zhang Huan: Altered States, 2007, n.p.)