Chinese artist makes paintings with fish bones

Artists tend to show their understanding of the world on canvas or paper with oil, ink or even chalk -- but Chinese painter Lin Hanbing has his own stuff: fish bones.

The bones discarded by gourmets are turned into elaborate landscapes and works of art at a gallery in the coastal city of Xiamen in China's Fujian province, Xinhua reported.

Born in the neighbouring city of Zhangzhou in 1964, Lin moved to Xiamen later. After graduating from an arts and crafts institute in 1989, he began to explore a method of arranging fish bones to make art.

"I get a special feeling with fish bones. They're beautiful, with shapes like the strokes of ancient Chinese calligraphy, which is primitive and elegant," said Lin, who is also the curator of the Oriental Fish Bone Gallery, the first of its kind in the country, located on Gulangyu island.

Established in April 2006, the gallery now exhibits more than 100 works of fish bone art, which were selected by Lin from over 1,000 of his own creations.

"It was difficult at first. I had to live on borrowing from friends and relatives and my colleagues didn't understand me, but I believed I could invent a new kind of art and a new kind of pleasure," Lin said, "Now I think what I've done over the past 20 years is worth it."

Lin's art has been accepted by a growing number of people. Now, his small gallery receives about 100 visitors every day, with a ticket priced at 20 yuan.