Fishbone Painting-Chrysanthemum

Haihe River (in North China), the country's seventh largest river that has served shipping and military purposes throughout history, boasts rich water resources and commands enormous love from everyone living nearby. Zhao Gang, a fishbone artist who grew up right near the riverbank, is one of those with a strong love for the river.

Even as a little boy, Zhao was an experienced swimmer who often dove into the river to catch fish, which was his favorite dish. One day after lunch, he suddenly realized that many of the leftover fish bones had good and interesting appearances. Thus at that moment he came up with the idea of making paintings with the fish bones, before later having success.

According to Zhao, creating a fishbone picture doesn't mean simply patching up all the fish bones in a simple and random way. First, the artist has to get familiarized with the fishbone structure. When making fishbone paintings, the artist always tries to retain the bones' original shape, to keep the bones' natural beauty. In this way, the fishbone paintings not only show the naturally peculiar shapes of fish bones, but also the unique styles and designs created by the artist.

Fishbone Painting-Orchid

In all his fishbone artworks, be it of flowers, animals or insects, Zhao has adopted the low relief method, and the bones he uses usually all have good quality, with some jade-like and others agate-like, which makes it hard for others to believe they are fish bones. This is especially true with fishbone calligraphy, which resembles both a kind of seal character and a kind of regular script. Due to its fresh artistic conception, Zhao's fishbone calligraphy won the recognition of the Guiness Book of Records' headquarters in East China's Shanghai Municipality.

Zhao's life is largely centered on fish. Every morning, his most important activity is buying fish, as it is the key to making a good fishbone painting. The bones Zhao uses are of freshwater fish as well as of commonly seen sea fish. As fish bones used for making fishbone paintings should retain their original color, great attention needs to be paid to the treatment of fish bones; concerning this, Zhao has his own way.