Chinese artist brings unique paintings to UN

China 24

Chinese artist brings unique paintings to UN

A leading Chinese artist is showcasing his paintings at the United Nations headquarters. Changxin Zhou is recognized as the founder of “Heavy-Color Oil Painting” and he’s been in New York to spread the word.

CGTN’s John Terrett reports.

Heavy-Color Oil Painting isn’t to everyone’s taste but it’s gaining quite a following in New York. “Heavy-Color Oil Painting is a new art style that I have pioneered. It’s a fusion of Chinese and Western artistic traditions. From the west, I take strong oil colors and from the East elements from my own hometown in China,” Zhou said.

Heavy-color oil painting lives up to its name – colorful and heavy that the colors are clear but glance to one side of any of Zhou’s paintings and you can see just how much oil paint is on the canvass and put on with a brush or even a painting knife.

“At the United Nations headquarters, I will exhibit a series of heavy color oil paintings that are mainly of nature. I like to focus on nature in my work and I’m able to express my feelings for life on earth through my painting,” he also said.

In 2006, Changxin Zhou’s painting “Spirit of China,” depicting a tempestuous Yellow River that gave birth to modern China was sold at auction for $1.9 million and it helped make him a household name.

All the artwork that you see in this room has been painted during a tour right across America in the last couple of months and this one is the artist’s favorite – it’s painted in Arizona and it’s called, “Homeland.”

“It depicts a cactus in the Arizona desert. There are two birds nesting in the cactus. Underneath is a snake. The idea is to show that the two birds and the snake can live in harmony in such a harsh environment. My message is that human beings should live in harmony in the world like the birds and the snake,” Zhou said.

Changxin Zhou says though the United Nations isn’t endorsing his work that the very fact that he’s able to display it here is a clue to his wider hopes for the future.

“My exhibition here at U.N. headquarters is very special to me. I believe art is universal. The language of art can be shared by all the people of the world. Many American art experts have expressed great interest in me as an artist. I’m hoping I can bring a greater understanding of Chinese society to America and the rest of the world through my painting,” he said.