Artist Zhang Huan has created a new genre; ash painting. In speaking of why he enjoys ash as a medium he says: “It moves me the most-it’s able to move through me. What’s left in it are the remnants of so many souls.”. Which, for me, correlated to a question I’ve had for myself in regards to my collecting of stains; how is the origin of the stain important? How is where it comes from significant? One of Huan’s works is a statue covered entirely in ash from incense burned in temples in Shanghai. How does the knowledge of the origin of the ash change the work? Does it matter?
These are questions I’ve been wondering for myself. Lately I’ve been collecting cups and papers stained by tea and coffee. While how the stains look has been interest enough for me, sometimes I cannot help but wonder how my knowledge of their origin changes my understanding. Would I appreciate these stains more/less if I did not personally know the people they were coming from?
Huan says that the different incense he uses to produce ash produce different colors and grades of residue. What are the different grades of residue within my own stain collection? I wonder how I can work with these questions to alter my experiences with my stains and how far I can take it.
Source:
Luna, Shyr. ‘In The Studio: Zhang Huan’. Blouin Art Info. N.p., 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2015.
Dance Practice As Research 
Have you thought about collecting (taking pictures of?) stains of things where you don’t know the origin? I’m thinking public places…like the tube, bathrooms (gross), random busy places or tourist traps…….just to see if not knowing the origin shades/colors (ha!) your view of them? I only wonder, because I think I myself would be completely disgusted by the thought of collecting stains of unknown sources…..which in turn might make it difficult to find the beauty/interest/worth/whatever in the stains themselves.
I like the idea of ash painting. At first, I totally thought that he used human ash from cremated bodies to paint….especially because of the “remnants of so many souls.” Oh, my macabre brain…
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