Zhang Xu Zhan
Born 1988, Taipei, Taiwan
Lives and works in Taipei

Zhang Xu Zhan is an artist and animator whose wildly inventive stop-motion puppetry creates a darkly comic world of animal outcasts and cross-cultural encounters. Inspired by the costumed dragon and lion dances of Chinese tradition and affinities between folk tales across cultures, Compound eyes of tropical 2020–22 hybridises international stories in which a small, clever animal tricks a larger predator into helping them cross a river.

Working in joss paper, Zhang Xu draws on a generations-old family trade of crafting sculptures from incense-infused paper intended to be burned in ceremonies and festivals. His puppets and sets, arrayed in dioramas or throughout an atmospheric exhibition space, provide lavish accompaniment to a story rich in cultural references, philosophical reflection and mischievous humour.