Americans amazed by Chinese art at Lunar New Year exhibition in New York

The Fantastic Art China's public art exhibition, which opened here Tuesday at Lincoln Center, has amazed the American visitors with artwork from six renowned Chinese artists and a creative bazaar.

"This is the first time that I've seen this (the Chinese art). But when I look at it, I was initially inspired and drawn to it, and started to look at it more carefully," Ed Hynes, who works in the Wall Street and becomes one of the first Americans to visit the exhibition, told Xinhua.

Signature works by China's artists Xu Jiang, Zhan Wang and Huang Jiancheng will be presented at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center, while at the other side of Lincoln Center, namely David Rubenstein Atrium, works by Xu Bing, Lv Shengzhong and Chen Wenling are also on display.

Among their works, Huang Jiancheng presents an animated video recreating the momentous painting "Qingming Shanghe Tu" (Along the River during the Qingming Festival), which is considered by many as one of the most significant classical Chinese ink-paintings in history.

While, Xu Bing, recipient of the 2014 State Department Medal of Arts in the United States, exhibits a hand-painted animation explaining the connections between Chinese characters and the temperament of people who write them.

Hynes said his favorite one is the Landscape of Post-birth by Chen Wenling, which features the 12 zodiacs, presenting the phenomenon of visual symbolization in the era of consumption, and therein creates a surrealistic and futuristic landscape.

Although Hynes said he cannot fully understand the meaning of the art, he thinks that any rational person will be humbled by the fact that the Chinese culture is so profound and ancient.

"I think Chinese culture has a lot of meaning that has been developed over many thousands of years, so I think there's something for anyone in the world to learn from Chinese culture," he said.

The creative bazaar assembles innovative derivatives, traditional Chinese craftworks, selected new year storing and intangible cultural relics that are specially collected for the Happy Chinese New Year event.

"What's nice about these products is the combination of old and new," Lucia DeRespinis, chief development officer of China Institute told Xinhua, as she was looking at the plastic vase which has Chinese calligraphy on it.

"This is a very modern solution. It's a modern technology, but it's using very traditional Chinese designs," she said, "The (Chinese) culture is rooted in tradition, but it's also looking forward. It's doing that together."

The public art exhibition, along with Empire State Building Lighting Installation, and a Happy Chinese New Year fireworks display comprise the three main sections of "Fantastic Art China" events, which are having its debut in New York as part of Happy Chinese New Year events.

The event will last for a week from Feb 17 to 24, 2015.