Walking in Manhattan with a young friend recently, we spotted a strange creature on a streetcorner in Midtown: a colorful buffalo with an equally-colorful eagle on its back.
Seeing some others down the block, along the pedestrian plaza that now stretches from Times Square to Herald Square, we began walking downtown to see the others. From a sign, we found that they are all part of A Fancy Animal Carnival, and the work of Taiwanese artist Hung Yin.
Each one is meant to reflect folk culture and region and tells stories through the traditional Taiwanese symbols that decorate each of the animals. The symbols are also meant to bring good luck. They're also approachable and attractive to children.
Past the Buffalo and Eagle, we found a pensive Yellow Ox...
...and these characters, a Fortunate Round Dragon and a Dynamic Round Dragon...
...and two Dromedary Camels...
...And a giraffe, who was harder to photograph because of his height. But the owl on his back was a natural for a close-up.
The Pandas were puzzling...they not only have eyes in the back of their heads, they have whole faces there...as well as on the front!
It turns out that by starting at 40th street, we had missed two others that are on display between 40th and 41st streets. Here they are, Auspicious Triple Sheep, and the Dragon Horse. All of them will be on display through April 2017.
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