Feature: Chinese artists catch eye of int'l visitors at Venice Biennale

Silvio Cassara, an Italian architect, was visiting La Biennale di Venezia, or Venice international art exhibition, when he came across the eye-catching title "Learn from Masters" pointing to a Chinese exhibition.

Venice is experiencing the sweltering Italian summer sun these days. Yet Cassara, unmindful of the prickly heat, entered the building, one of the most historic palaces of Venice in the heart of the water city, to carefully observe the works of Pan Gongkai, an artist from Zhejiang province of China.

"I am an architect and naturally, immediately was attracted by the graphic works of Pan Gongkai," Cassara told Xinhua as he stepped out of the exhibition hall. He said he was hit by the relation between tradition and innovation explored by the artist through his individual understanding of the China painting tradition.

In the "Learn from Masters" exhibition, paintings by historic masters such as Gu Kaizhi (AD 348-409) and Fan Kuan (AD 950-1032) are flanked by the copies made by Pan Gongkai, who by doing so has embodied the China painting tradition within a modern, global context.

Landscape art and the grandeur of nature described through the ink and brush language are the main themes in which the contemporary artist has returned for inspiration.

"China is a huge country but I think Chinese artists have a very clear talent for small things, for details," noted a visitor from Romania, Calin Oltean, during a tour across Asian art at the Venice Biennale with his wife.

"We come here every two years to visit the Venice Biennale, and especially enjoy the evolution of Asian contemporary art. In my opinion, it is because they are so attentive to accuracy that Chinese people are able to develop such big projects in their country," Oltean told Xinhua.

Many of the 44 so-called "collateral events" of the 56th edition of Venice Biennale, one of the leading events of contemporary art in the world which runs between May 9 and Nov. 22, feature China-related artworks at prestigious locations across Venice.

In addition, China is among the 89 participants with a national pavilion themed "Other Future" in which five artists, very distinct in their artistic style, explore the present and future of a China rooted in rural civilization.

Hunan province native musician Tan Dun is among them with a work titled "Living in Future," in line with the Venice Biennale leading theme of this year All the World's Futures.

"States have to foster exchange through art, they cannot be restricted to their own culture. China's rich presence at the Venice Biennale is very positive to enlarge our view of the world," German visitor Frank Thieser told Xinhua. "I enjoy illustrating all these works to my sons," he stressed.

Set in the center of a round pool, Tan's work includes audio, video music performance and audience interaction focused on his perception of a part of China's folk heritage, Nu Shu, an ancient language created by women for women in Hunan and passed secretly from generation to generation.

"I was born in Venice and for me the Biennale every two years is part of my life. It is fantastic that the art works by artists who live very far from Italy come to Venice and can be discovered by everybody here," said a local visitor, Piero Casellati.

"I believe the more we know the more open to the world we would be," Casellati told Xinhua. "I have never been to China, but these artworks have definitely increased my will to visit this great country," he said. Endit