SYDNEY, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia's major international art fair, Sydney Contemporary opened to the public on Thursday, showcasing some of the most desirable artworks from around the world, among which a number of prominent Chinese artists made their event debut.
Now in its fifth iteration, visitors to this year's Sydney Contemporary were treated to over 450 new artworks from leading international contemporary artists, presented by almost 100 individual galleries.
Contemporary Chinese art gallery Vermillion was on scene to display new works by a number of artists.
"We're certainly showing something very different from the rest of the fair -- we want to show the best Chinese art by the best Chinese artists," Vermillion Gallery Director Zuo Yeqin told Xinhua.
Proving immensely popular at last year's fair, Chinese artist Li Jin has returned with a fresh batch of traditional brush-and-ink style paintings which he uses to explore contemporary themes of human desire.
Also featured by Vermillion are the eye-catching works of renowned artist Fang Lijun, whose woodblock prints of bald-headed figures have featured in top galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
"Fang Lijun has a beautiful large studio in Songzhuang, outside Beijing, and all his work is created in China," Zuo said.
"I was fortunate enough to visit his studio earlier this year and was very impressed by his studio -- and of course more impressed by the artist himself."
The art on show was far from confined to the walls -- biding around Vermillions gallery space were the lively, red-painted bronze sculptures by Chen Wenling, which are fast gaining iconic status having appeared at sculpture festivals around the world.
Aside from Vermillion's offerings, an undisputed highlight of this year's fair was Hong Kong-based artist Movana Chen, who was in Sydney for the occasion and drew plenty of attention with her infectious character and bold style.
Chen creates elaborate, wearable artworks by knitting together shredded pieces of books, magazines and maps which she has collected from all over the world.
She then inhabits the pieces herself to create living artworks which she has worn from the galleries of London and Paris, to the streets of Beijing and Shanghai -- and now to Sydney Contemporary.
Chen told Xinhua that the reactions she gets vary from place to place.
"Later you will see how they react here in Sydney, I don't know yet," she said.
"In China, Shanghai or Beijing they ask, 'how did you knit the paper? How many hours did it take? Can you teach me?' That's my experience, but in other places people are more about the concept, they say 'you're an artist? Where are you from? Why are you inside?"
Chen said what she likes best about being a part of her art projects is the people that she meets along the way, and those interactions which become the heart of what she does as an artist.
"Since my project started in 2003, I've met so many different cultures, different people and like everyone, you collect and give from the people who you meet in your journey," she said.
The exhibition Sydney Contemporary runs on Sept. 12-15.
