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Steel sculpture titled 'Symbiosis' by Xu Jiang. China Central Academy of Fine Art image

NY toasts Lunar New Year with Chinese contemporary art displays

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

NEW YORK – As part of “Happy Chinese New Year: Fantastic Art China,” a series of arts and culture initiatives celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year throughout New York City, the China Central Academy of Fine Art is hosting a public exhibit of contemporary Chinese visual art at the David Rubenstein Atrium and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center now through Feb. 24.

Famous works, including some never previously exhibited outside China, will go on display from artists including:

  • Huang Jiancheng, chief designer of the famed China Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo;
  • Xu Bing, awarded the U.S. State Department’s Medial of Arts in January 2015;
  • Xu Jiang, president of the China Academy of Art whose works have been featured at the Venice Biennale, San Paulo Biennale, and others;
  • Lv Shengzhong, specialist in the ancient Chinese art of paper cutting;
  • Chen Wenling, whose work has been shown by more than a dozen institutions including the China Museum of Art, Korea National Art Museum and Denver Art Museum, and who has received the Perth Coastal Sculpture Public Art prize and Arox international sculpture show grand prize;
  • Zhan Wang, whose signature Artificial Rocks series was the first ever Chinese contemporary sculputures to be featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Through Feb. 21, four works will be featured at the Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, including:

  • Huang Jiancheng will present his famed animated digital tapestry recreating the momentous ancient Chinese painting Along the River during the Qingming Festival, considered by many as the most significant classical Chinese painting in history. The digital artwork has never been exhibited outside of China, and was widely renowned as the centerpiece of the China Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo;
  • Xu Bing will exhibit The Character of Characters, a grandiose hand-painted animation explaining the connection between Chinese characters and the temperament of people who write them;
  • Chen Wenling will discuss the symbolism of the era in “The Scene in the Future”;
  • Lv Shengzhong, a CAFA professor of experimental art, will showcase his Square Earth, Round Heaven series of traditional Chinese paper cutting.

In addition to these works, the Atrium will be transformed into a contemporary artistic take on a traditional Chinese market, in Lv Shengzhong’s Creativity Bazaar, which will serve as both a real market showing handicrafts from across China and a contemporary art piece. The bazaar will assemble traditional and innovative Chinese craftworks and New Year storing items that are specially collected from across China, including from Shanghai Museum, Nanjing Museum, Hunan Provincial Museum, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hubei Provincial Museum, CAFA Museum, Suzhou Museum and Ordos Museum. The bazaar, which will be available for both public viewing and participation, along with the ancient market presented in Huang’s work, together will form a unique comparison and offer audiences an opportunity to better understand Chinese New Year fairs and Chinese traditions of New Year storing.

Finally, upon the completion of the exhibit at the Atrium, two additional works of art will go on display at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24:

  • Zhan Wang, a professor at CAFA, will display his a piece from his signature sculpture Artificial Rocks, which was part of the first-ever Chinese contemporary sculpture to be featured at the Metropolitan Museum;
  • Xu Jiang, head of the Hangzhou-based China Academy of Art and whose work has been featured at the Venice Biennale, will showcase his steel sculpture Symbiosis, which combines nearly 400 sunflowers in an extravagant display.

Visit fantastic.art.china.cn or follow www.facebook.com/chinanewyearnyc and www.twitter.com/chinanewyearnyc for more information.