Zhang Huan at PaceWildenstein

Remember back in 2008, when Chinese art was the biggest thing going? Maybe it had something to do with the Beijing Olympics, but China-mania swept the art world up until the recession hit that September. Several major galleries opened spaces in Shanghai, and it seemed like anyone with a Chinese-sounding name could walk into a gallery and get a show booked. Prior to the art world's brief obsession with China, there were only a few internationally famous Chinese artists, such as Cai Guo-Qiang and his gunpowder paintings, and Zhang Huan and his highly varied output of performance pieces, sculptures, paintings, and prints. His solo show at PaceWildenstein's 22nd Street space, titled "Neither Coming Nor Going," shows a recent sculpture and some prints, but honestly, it could have just been the sculpture.

The obvious highlight of the show was a twenty-foot tall sculpture of the Buddha made almost entirely out of incense ash (with a few red incense wrappers and some bones stuck in it too). It's so monumental that it even overwhelms the gallery's massive exhibition space. One of the statue's hands has fallen off and sits on the ground next to its legs. According to the gallery's website, smoke is supposed to come out of the statue's head, but I never witnessed this.

Here's what I could find on the meaning behind the statue: its name, Rulai, is a Chinese translation of the pronoun the Buddha used to refer to himself after reaching Enlightenment: Tathagata. Tathagata is used to mean "beyond coming and going" because it has two meanings depending on slight variations in its pronunciation: it can mean "one who has come" or "one who has gone." Being neither coming nor going means being outside of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth - in Buddhist thought, Nirvana. (Source)

The statue of the Buddha is made out of incense ash - it's made out of the residue left behind from prayers and wishes. There are even incense wrappers embedded in the statue. One potential interpretation of the work might be that even though the Buddha reached Nirvana, humans keep bringing him back through rituals and prayers. To put it in a western perspective, maybe God is the end, not the beginning, and perhaps mankind is contributing to the construction of the divine with every prayer said, every incense stick lit, every life lived. Or, maybe you could just listen to the artist and his explanation of the work and its relationship to the economic situation in China. As I said before, I prefer to look at work by myself without the artist's intentions looking over my shoulder.

There were some woodblock prints and stuff, but seriously: GIANT ASH BUDDHA! Awesome.