Zhang Huan. Soul and Matter

"L'Anima e la Materia/Soul and Matter" is the largest exhibition ever organised in Italy for the Chinese artist Zhang Huan, one of the most interesting artists on the contemporary international scene.
Transience is what distinguishes the work of this artist: massive yet short-lived ash statues destined to unravel in the wind.
"The ashes of incense is not only ashes, nor only matter, but it is the collective soul of our memories and our hopes." Apart from the ashes of incense, Zhang Huan uses metal, leather and bronze.
The Chinese artist has been heavily influenced by the works of the Renaissance masters and this influence is reflected today in some of his works, particularly those on display in the Palazzo Vecchio, the other location of the exhibition.

Dominating the Fort is the gigantic work "Three heads - six arms", while inside the Palazzina di Belvedere you'll find the striking large-format paintings of the Ash Painting series, like Confucius No.3 and Confucius No.4 (both from 2011), where the ash is spread on large linen canvases.
Inside the building there's also the Taiwan Buddha statue, a monumental installation consisting of two parts: an aluminium cast, more than 5 metres high, used to make the ash statue, and the Ash Buddha statue itself, unprotected, and therefore destined to disintegrate and dissolve during the exhibition period.
In the meantime, in the Palazzo Vecchio, in the Sala dei Gigli, an ash-Buddha and an ash-Jesus, study each other, face-to-face, East and West. The exhibition continues in the Sala degli Elementi with Florence Buddha, a work in compacted ash made in 2012, and in the Sala dell'Udienza, where you will find a selection of Ash Sculptures.
In the Salone dei Cinquecento there's a statue of Confucius, made in white Carrara marble, a material used here for the first time by Zhang Huan, in homage to the tradition of the great Renaissance sculpture.