Stunning artworks of fish bone artist -Chinaculture.org

"Soul of the sea". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Lin Hanbing is a fish bone artist resides in Fujian province's Gulangyu island. As the originator of fish bone painting, Lin is the only fish bone painting artist in China, perhaps the world. Lin has been devoting his time and money to creating his artwork in the past twenty years.

In his paintings, he tried to reflect social ills in the Chinese society.In his painting with lines from a poem that reads, "A fleece of cloud is floating above the valley, birds returning at night are getting lost", for example, he tried to depict the mindset of most Chinese in our times."We are like birds hunting for food - chasing after power, money and all material things, but our spirit has got lost, like birds that lost their way home," Lin said.

"Birth". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Lin also tried to raise people's awareness to environmental issues. "Because of water pollution, some fish become ill, their bones have changed color, some even changed shape," Lin said he has witnessed the change taken place in the sea creatures in the last two decades. He said that such changes have made him more determined to carry on his mission of creating fish bone paintings.

Several of his works, including "Thirst", "The Other Shore" and "Birds Flown with the tree" are all works that reflect environmental problems.

Lin said that as an artist, he has no say in politics, and he cannot change a social problem anlone, but he hopes that his paintings could make viewers realized how severe the pollution problems is, and call for people to care for the environment.

"Thirst". This painting is created after the severe drought of Poyang Lake in Central China's Wuhan province, 2011. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Latest work of Van Gogh". A painting paying tribute to Vincent Van Gogh. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Water is the origin of life". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The other shore". With no pollution, the other shore is cleaner, greener and purer. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"For whom the flowers bloom?" [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The story of fish and net". In the life and death struggle between the fish and the net, the fish wins, and the net is torn. This is the hope of life. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The flower of desires". The yellow background color signifies the desires of fortune, beauty and power. The flower has surpassed the ground, which stands for the constrains of moral and law. The flower seems powerful, yet in the flames of desires, it may burn itself down. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Sky of the bar". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Get lost". Some people are like fishes, forgetting they're not born to fly. [Photo provided to chinadailyl.com.cn]

"Butterflies with dew on the wings". Children nowadays are burned with homeworks and are crammed remedial teachings off school, that they are just like butterflies that cannot fly because of the seemingly beautiful yet heavy dew fall on their wings. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The moon rises from the sea". This is a line taken from Zhang Jiuling's poem "Viewing the moon, thinking of you". Zhang is a poet from the Tang Dynasty(AD618-907).[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Birds flown with the tree". When the earth is too polluted to live, the birds carry their home away with them. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The flower falls while no one watches". This line is taken from Li Huade's poem "Lyric poem of a spring trip". Lin Hanbing said this line perfectly describes his twenty years' creation of fish bone paintings - few ever taken serious of his artworks. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"No big deal". In the information age, a small incident could be brewed and amplified into a event. Just take it easy. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"That moment". The cracked bone stands for the backbone of our Chinese nation, which broke during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.Fish bones that surround the sun were vertical and dense, like raindrops, signifying the bleeding of the Chinese nation. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]