Family Tree
Date2001
Label TextWhen he lived in New York City from 1998 to 2006, the Chinese artist Zhang Huan staged many provocative performances. In one, documented in these nine photographs, his face was progressively inscribed with words from ancient Chinese divination, which predicts the future based on one’s facial features. The text gradually obscures Zhang’s features until the words are lost and his face is completely covered with black ink. Instead of revealing his fate, the words conceal his identity beneath a layer of culturally conditioned but illegible references. As its title suggests, the work “speaks about a family story, a spirit of family.” This sense of being Chinese became more of a focal point in Zhang’s work during his years in New York.
Object number2020.9
ProvenanceThe artist; {Chambers Fine Art, New York};
[Christie’s, New York, Post War and Contemporary Art, Nov. 9, 2005, sale no.
1575, lot no. 431, reproduced p. 48]; purchased at auction by Jon Shirley, Seattle,
Washington; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2020
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Conceal/Reveal,
Dec. 20, 2014 - June 21, 2015.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Be/Longing: Contemporary Asian
Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - July 11, 2021].Published ReferencesMelissa Chiu, ed., Zhang Huan: Altered States, Milan: Charta/Asia
Society, 2007; pp. 129-137.
Christopher Phillips and Wu Hung, Between Past and Future: New Photography
and Video from China, Illinois: Smart Museum, University of Chicago, New York:
International Centre of Photography, 2004; p. 46.
Upchurch, Michael. "Conceal/Reveal at Seattle Asian Art Museum." Seattle
Times, January 2, 2015,
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/lsquoconceal-revealrsquoat-seattleasian-art-museum/.
Messman, Lauren. "Seattle Asian Art Museum to Reopen After $56 Million
Renovation." The New York Times, Feb. 3, 2020,
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/arts/design/seattle-asian-art-museum.html.
Reproduced.
Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 68, reproduced fig. 28 (installation view).Credit LineGift of Kim and Jon Shirley in honor of the reopening of the Seattle Asian Art Museum
Dimensions50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm) each
MediumNine chromogenic prints
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