Cosponsored the Shanghai Art Museum (SAM), a contemporary Chinese art exhibit entitled "The East plus West" was unveiled Friday at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum.

It showcases 68 pieces from SAM which were collected since the mid-1980s.

It includes oil painting, Chinese ink painting, photography and installation art.

"The 20th century of Chinese history was a history of contradictions and the interweaving and combination of Western and Asian civilizations," said SAM curator Li Xiangyang.

"Especially since the 1980s, with Chinese artists exposed to the outside world in an increasing open way, their desire and confidence to build up contemporary Chinese art has been stronger than ever," Li said.

With selected works, the display aims at demonstrating the responses some representative Chinese artists of today have made under the backdrop of conflicts and dialogue between the Western and Asian civilizations.

In 2002, the same exhibit was staged in Vienna, Austria and was well received by European audiences, said Li.

The show ends April 14.

(Shenzhen Daily April 6, 2004)