A grand art show entitled "The Left-Wing" started on Saturday and is to run until end of the month at the Left Bank Gallery in the Zhongguancun area of western Beijing.

Attending the exhibition are about 30 of the most active of today's Chinese artists including Cao Fei, Fang Lijun, Gu Dexin, Song Dong, Sui Jianguo, Zhuang Hui, Du Zhenjun, Huang Yongbing and Shen Shaomin, according to curator Gu Zhenqing.

In 2003, many Chinese artists have turned their attention from experimenting with more abstract art forms to expressing their views and concerns over societal issues such as environmental pollution, and migrant workers, the gap between the rich and the poor.

Different art forms such as painting, installation, video art, performance art and new media art are on display. The artists have depicted the different lifestyles of ordinary Chinese people as they come to terms with the unprecedented, dramatic economic and cultural impacts of globalization.

The exhibition displays the artists' earnest explorations into the history of China and their efforts to bring the mundaneness and mediocrity of daily life to the level of soul-searching and spiritually uplifting works of art, the organizers say.

The venue of the art show is next to Peking University and Zhongguancun High-Tech Park, and the so-called high-brow residential communities on the Fourth North Ring Road of Beijing. The exhibition provides a platform for interactions between artists and a portion of high-paying Chinese population, which in turn will make the art show meaningful, the organizers say.

(China Daily December 20, 2003)