Zhang Huan’s “Altered States” & Kira O’Reilly
***SOME OF THE IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING, SO LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK***
Zhang Huan’s artwork is of a sort that I have never experienced before. Art to me has always been paint on a canvas, sculptures, or photographs, but never had my perception encompassed “performance art,” a concept that is new to me. Two of his performance works interested me: “To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond” and “To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain.” What I liked about these two works is the message that they convey to the observer: “that art, […] in the form of bodies positioned in time, can literally change the world” (Cotter). What draws me to this message is that it metaphorically speaks of the potential influence a person can have on the world and on his/her own life, an empowering idea. This concept is especially powerful coming from Zhang Huan who had risen from the ruts of his impoverished life in China, and has now become an artist that mystifies audiences with his thought-provoking performances, leaving a lasting impression on the observer, the epitome of his own message as to the influence one person can have on the world.
Kira O’Reilly is an Irish performance artist who performs mainly in the United Kingdom and in other countries across Europe. Her most notable project involves her residency with SymbioticA, a bio-art project for the University of Western Australia’s department of Human Anatomy from 2003 to 2004. Her work is gruesome and often controversial, involving nudity, the cutting of her own skin, and macabre pieces using leeches and freshly slaughtered pigs. In a sense, her work is similar to that of Zhang Huan’s in that they both use their bodies as the center of their pieces, although Kira’s work is not for the weak of heart. Personally, I find Kira’s work a bit disturbing and at times, masochistic. I do not see it as art, but more as a performance done for shock-value. To me, her work lacks the depth and sophistication of Zhang Huan’s performance art.
I see today’s role of the artist to be to express anything that he/she feels is of significance in the world, society, or to him/her personally that he finds necessary to relate to the observer. He must inspire or provoke his audience with a profound message, a commentary on current issues, a gruesome truth that should be revealed, or a beautiful aspect of life that he/she wants to share. As long as it’s something that the artist is passionate or deeply interested in, it’s his/her role to have it expressed through his/her art for the viewers to experience. Zhang Huan’s work expresses the role of the artist for it effectively embodies Zhang’s perspectives and beliefs, seen in the cases of “To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond” and “To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain.” Although Zhang Huan has said that his intent in his work is not obvious to the observer, for it’s an idea that he can only understand, that does not mean that whatever the observer understands from his work is entirely different from Zhang Huan’s meaning.
I could imagine that a performance art event that someone could create today that would be relevant to our times would be something about the war in Iraq. Depending on how the artist views this issue, the performance can be executed in different ways. If the artist supports America’s presence in Iraq, then he/she might dress in an army uniform and somehow glorify the role of the soldier and emphasizing his strength and bravery. If the artist disagrees with the Iraq War, then he/she could highlight the strife and pain of the Iraqi people or portray the President as inhumane and monstrous.
Source:
Cotter, Holland. “Chinese Art, in One Man’s Translation.” New York Times 07, Sep 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/arts/design/07zhan.html
October 1st, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Kira O’reilly’s work is certainly not for everyone. It seems that she mutilates herself to prove something to herself and to the world. In a way, it is almost similar to the way Zhang Huan’s attempts to take his own body and his audience to the next level, to push them to understand boundaries they’ve never even seen. Because she is a woman, this kind of masochism is more unexpected from her than from a man. Audiences are more surprised to see a female engaged in this type of performance art and I think this is part of her reasons for these kinds of crude performances.
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Valentina, I chose the same Zhang pieces to speak about. I really lked your insight about how his performance of “To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond” and “To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain” empowers people. Though I got the message, I didn’t saw it as inspirational,but now I can. It is intersting how your artist is so extreme and yet she does’t get her point across as clearly as Huan did. I think it speaks for how a cry for attention and exposure is different from an expression of art. Though my artist (Keats) never exposed himself, he sold his thoughts while sitting in a chair watching a nude woman. I don’t why but I was reminded of him while reading your piece
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Kim, I completely agree with you. Her pieces border on masochistic and they make me very uncomfortable. They also border on bestiality, which is something that again makes me feel really uncomfortable. There is one image on your blog that is really beautiful however. The firt picture you show is possibly one fo the most beautiful I have ever seen. I thought at first that the pig was another person and I was very confused. Her skin tone and the pig’s are so similar, that I guess I just assumed. It was incredible when I realized that it was a pig. I had this sense that we really weren’t that different from that animal. We were just like that animal. And everything around me seemed to become one. It was really amazing…and then I scrolled down and saw her cutting herself and i was beside myself. That one image is really beautiful though.
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:04 am
Joey, I loved your interpretation of that image with the pig and the artist. I loved how you viewed that as a manifestation of the likeness of humans and animals and how maybe we really aren’t that separate from the animal kingdom and that we, ourselves, are descendants from that kingdom. It is a very eerie concept and an even eerier manner of portraying that, but, once again, I would like to emphasize the fact that the meaning of art is “in the eye of the beholder.” Thank you so much Elias for posting on this. It was really insightful and interesting!
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:29 am
Ly and Joey, I agree with you two on the first image. I was looking at it and just thinking how her work wasn’t all that horrible - until I scrolled down a bit. That’s when I winced. To be blunt, I think it’s ridiculous how far she will go for shock value. I’m sure that she has some sort of message that she is trying to send, but it could probably be done without cutting herself - this just draws attention to the fact that she is disfiguring her own body for the purpose of other people seeing it. It seems as if she does it all for attention, and for people to gasp and be amazed at how much she will do and how much pain she will put herself through for “art.” The fact that she cuts herself while other people watch is simply just disturbing for me to think about.