Art Exhibition Debut: LA museum showcasing works of contemporary Chinese artists

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They are some of the best known artists in China. Yet most Americans have never heard of them. Now, a handful of museums in the U.S. are hoping to change that, through a new exhibit that's just opening in Los Angeles. CGTN's Roee Ruttenberg had a sneak-peek.

The Allure of Matter showcases material art from China.

Twenty-one artists who've combined traditional textures, like silk, with more contemporary, industrial materials to offer commentary on China, and the world.

Artist Zhang Huan painstakingly collected ash from incense burned at Buddhist temples to create a three-dimensional piece that looks like a culturally ironic photograph of Chinese farmers.

And here, Jin Shan recreates the bust of a symbolic steel worker using wood salvaged from old Shanghai doors from homes torn down in China's rush to modernization.

JIN SHAN ARTIST "We wanted to show the American people that the Chinese artists - all different kind - are mixed together for contemporary. Chinese artists are thinking in different ways to understand our society, not just one type. So that's what I'm thinking is important."

Jin says he fears some of the nuance may be lost on the American audience because they don't know much about China.

Curator Stephen Little is hoping to change that.

STEPHEN LITTLE CURATOR, LACMA "It's very important that Americans have a deep, or a deeper understanding of China. And it is a very different culture. The Chinese look at the world in a very different way. But I think when you came face to face with China, or face to face with works like this, it's the quickest way to learn."

Little says many of the artists have spent time living and working in the U.S., and in some cases, that's shaped their work.

Artist Xu Bing did his residency at Duke University, in the U.S. state of North Carolina where he began to think about the Duke family connection to the tobacco industry, and how American tobacco got to China. The result: this tiger skin rug created from half a million cigarettes.

ROEE RUTTENBERG LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA "This tapestry and tent are made from human hair collected from around the world over decades by artist Gu Wenda. The hair measures 30-thousand kilometers in length. The piece is called 'United Nations: American Code,' and it's meant to represent a hope for a utopian immigrant society with the hair, interwoven and braid, a collection of cultures."

STEPHEN LITTLE CURATOR, LACMA "Artists are often visionaries that can see things that rest of us don't see. And on many levels this show it opens doors into the future. And I think LACMA has an important role to play in being a platform."

Some of the pieces took weeks to put together, with teams flown in from China. The exhibit will spend half a year at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art before it travels across the country.

Roee Ruttenberg, CGTN, in Los Angeles.