M. Chiu, Altered Art: Zhang Huan, in Altered States, NewYork and Milan, 2007, pp. 22-24; E. Heartney, Zhang Huan: Becoming the Body, in Altered States, NewYork and Milan, 2007, p. 47
Catalogue Essay
On [Zhang Huan’s] visit to Tibet [in 2005] he collected a number of fragments of small Buddhist sculptures, especially in bronze and copper; fingers torn off; crushed hands, feet, and legs. These have inspired him to create a new series of works rendered in copper on a gigantic scale. He began with Buddha’s fingers. There is a phrase in Chinese, puo zhi, which translates as broken finger, but it bears a similar sound to broken son. This brings an understanding of the misfortune or a recognition, especially for Chinese collectors, that a Buddhist statue without fingers is incomplete and perhaps even bad luck. On another level, the fingers of Buddha also provide worshippers with symbolism, because the position of fingers into various mudras conveys different meanings. Zhang Huan fashioned Buddha fingers from sheets of copper, and at the place where they should have been attached to the hand he has created a small mesh cage, transforming the fingers into cages for birds and tortoises. Others are filled with rolled cloth scriptures. Here the artist considers the twelve fingers in the series as receptacles for the written word and the living. M. Chiu, “Altered Art: Zhang Huan,” Altered States, NewYork and Milan, 2007, pp. 22-23