(Ecns.cn)--Born in China, the traditional skill of making artistic figurines from melting sugar has been deeply influenced by Western abstractionism in modern times. However, this is about to change, said Chinanews.com on Monday.
In order to shake off Western influences and to revive the original spirit of Sugar Art, a new generation of domestic artists has now turned to traditional culture for inspiration. As one of the most praised achievements, Zhang Jiaqing, founder of Realistic Sugar Art, stunned the industry with his award winning masterpiece—a three-dimensional dragon that is pretty enough to replace sculptures as tasty adornments on tables.
"The art has its root in the old country and now we're expecting more works with traditional styles presented on dining tables," Zhang told the media. As one of his most important explorations, the young artist tried his hand at a realistic style in his work, mostly using unique images in Chinese culture like the dragon.
"The realistic style in question is more about the shape of the work. In this way, the Sugar Art creations become vivid and alive with three-dimensional shapes," Zhang added. "In this process, we make innovations by combining differing objects in traditional culture. The dragon, for instance, has embraced The Book of Changes and the flying bird has been adorned with a musical instrument, to convey new information."
