STORM KING ART CENTER, MOUNTAINVILLE, NY, HAS COMPLETED INSTALLATION OF THREE LEGGED BUDDHA (2007), A COLOSSAL SCULPTURE BY THE INTERNATIONALLY CELEBRATED CHINESE ARTIST ZHANG HUAN. THE WORK, WHICH STANDS NEARLY TWENTY-EIGHT FEET HIGH AND WEIGHS MORE THAN TWELVE TONS, IS A GENEROUS GIFT FROM ZHANG HUAN AND THE PACE GALLERY. THREE LEGGED BUDDHA HAS BEEN INSTALLED IN STORM KING'S SOUTH FIELDS, IN A GROVE OF 64 SUGAR-MAPLE TREES THAT HAVE BEEN ARTICULATED INTO THREE DISTINCT AREAS. THERE, NEAR THE EASTERN BORDER OF THE SCULPTURE PARK, IT MAY BE VIEW IN RELATION TO NEIGHBORING WORKS, INCLUDING MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ' SARCOPHAGI IN GLASS HOUSES. ZHANG HUAN'S MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE REPRESENTS THE BOTTOM HALF OF A SPRAWLING, THREE-LEGGED BEHEMOTH, ONE OF WHOSE FEET RESTS ON AN EIGHT FOOT HIGH HEAD THAT APPEARS TO BE EITHER EMERGING FROM OR SINKING INTO THE EARTH. THE SCULPTURE IS PART OF A SERIES OF MONUMENTAL WORKS INSPIRED SEVERAL YEARS AGO BY THE ARTIST'S ENCOUNTERS, WHILE TRAVELING IN TIBET, WITH REMNANTS OF BUDDHIST STATUARY THAT HAD BEEN DESTROYED DURING CHINA'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION. ZHANG BAGAN COLLECTING SUCH FRAGMENTS, HOPING TO CONVERT THE RELICS INTO ART. IN KEEPING WITH TIBETAN TRADITION, THREE LEGGED BUDDHA, ONE OF SEVERAL BUDDHA SCULPTURES THE ARTIST HAS CREATED, IS MADE OF FORGED COPPER. YET RATHER THAN GOLD-PLATTING OR OTHERWISE COLOURING THE COPPER, AS CUSTOM WOULD HAVE IT, ZHANG LEFT ITS VIOLET HUE UNTOUCHED.
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