Zhang Huan
Head From Buddha Foot, 2006
Copper, 3’ 3" x 18’ 8" x 5’ 7"
(99.1 x 569 x 170.2 cm)
Courtesy Pace Gallery

Head From Buddha Foot was produced at a time when Zhang felt he had exhausted the possibilities of performance art. By 2005, he was embarking on a new chapter in his career, and returning to more "traditional" forms of art making. Some of his early large-scale, copper sculptures retain a sense of the performative as they were intended as habitats—Zhang would close off the open end with mesh or chicken wire and house animals within.