Chinese art shines in New York as 'Fantastic Art China' kicks off

The Empire State Building hosts a light show on Feb 17, 2015, as a part of Chinese New Year celebrations. [Photo/art.china.cn]

"Fantastic Art China" opened in New York on Feb 17, 2015, promoting culture, art and design as a part of Chinese New Year celebrations.

Hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and organized by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the event, which runs until Tuesday features an art exhibition and creative bazaar at the Lincoln Center, lighting event at the Empire State Building and a firework show over the Hudson River.

Entitled Splendid China and designed by CAFA, the light display ran a 60-second rotating display of five themes, including red, yellow, white and blue, the colors of the national flags of China and the United States.

"There has been special lighting on the Empire State Building every year," said Yu Ding, professor at CAFA. "There used to be only red and yellow. Now, we add variations, including Chinese elements."

CAFA, the top fine arts institution of China also designed the fireworks show over the Hudson River.

The fireworks could be seen in Midtown Manhattan and in New Jersey across the river, and music was played via local radio stations. It was the first big firework show to celebrate Lunar New Year in the city.

Prior to the fireworks, the event's public exhibition opened at Lincoln Center, featuring works by six renowned Chinese artists.

Signature works by Xu Bing, Chen Wenling, Huang Jiancheng and Lv Shengzhong were presented at the David Rubenstein Atrium, and works by Xu Jiang and Zhan Wang were displayed at Avery Fisher Hall.

Among the works, Huang staged an animated video to present the famous painting Qingming Shanghe Tu (Along the River during the Qingming Festival), one of the most important classical Chinese ink-paintings.

The bazaar draws on innovative work by Chinese student artists, traditional Chinese craftwork, traditional purchases for Chinese New Year and other "intangible cultural" products.