The art of the ephemeral: Zhang Huan returns to New York after a decade

125 Newbury is presenting Zhang Huan: Performances and Related Works, the first solo exhibition of the artist’s work in New York City in over a decade. On view from March 6 through April 4, the exhibition comprises never-before-seen filmic documentation of Zhang’s iconic performances of the 1990s and 2000s, which are presented in dialogue with his renowned works in photography, painting, and sculpture. Curated by Arne Glimcher and marking the twentieth anniversary of Glimcher’s first visit to the artist’s Beijing studio, the exhibition explores themes of impermanence, memory, and history. In May of 2007, Glimcher once again visited Zhang Huan, writing of the experience: Getting off the plane in Shanghai, I’m excited to see what this magician has been up to since my last visit. At the height of his powers, Zhang is the conductor of a hundred-person orchestra of assistants, who sift and catalogue various colors of ash. He tells me it’s from incense that