01.01.70
Inspired by the 1974 discovery of 8,000 terracotta life-size
warriors buried at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di (259-210 B.C.), the
first emperor of China, artist Wanxin Zhang created his own series
of contemporary, everyman life-size warriors.
An exhibit of his works, “Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey,”
opens 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at the Holter Museum of Art with a
reception for five new exhibits (see related stories), launching
the Holter’s 25th Anniversary year.
Zhang will also give a gallery talk at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan.
21, and an illustrated lecture, “China and Other Influences,” at 7
p.m. Friday, Jan. 27. He will be a guest artist for a two-week
Cultural Crossroads series of workshops at the Holter.
Born in China in 1961, Zhang was a child during Mao Zedong’s
Cultural Revolution.
“People worshiped Mao like God,” said Zhang in an IR phone
interview from San Francisco. In fact, it was the omnipresent
statues of Mao that first inspired Zhang to take up a career in
art. While a student at the LuXan Art Institute in China, he
traveled to Xian in 1983 and viewed the terracotta warriors that
had been unearthed in four pits.
Source: Helena Independent Record