What's on

World of illustrators

Since 2016, China has become an important leg of the international tour of works shown at the Illustrators Exhibition, held during the Bologna Children's Book Fair every year since 1967. The Beijing stop of this year's tour has opened at the Yan Huang Art Museum for the second successive year. It shows more than 380 illustrations by 78 artists from across the world to inspire creativity and imagination among both children and adults. The Illustrators Exhibition was launched to show latest art trends and give emerging artists potential career opportunities. Works on show reflect people's embrace of hope, especially in face of uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also on show are works by Albertine, the winning illustrator of the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, from Switzerland. The exhibition ends on Oct 17.

10 am-6 pm, closed on Monday. 9 Huizhonglu, Yayuncun, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6491-2902.

Dunhuang legacy

The cave art of Dunhuang, Gansu province, has been a source of inspiration for artists for generations in China. They visit, pay tribute to and reproduce the murals and statues created centuries ago. I and Dunhuang, an exhibition at Nanchizi Museum in Beijing, investigates how the cave art shaped the work of two noted painters, Jin Shangyi and Tang Yongli. The exhibition, which runs through to Oct 23, shows six oil paintings Jin made during a visit to the grottoes in 1978. While vividly re-creating details of the artworks, Jin reinforced the beauty of Buddhist deities in the caves. More than 20 of Tang's works from his A Dream of Dunhuang series are on show. He rearranged the colors, composition and motifs of the cave art to create semi-realistic, semi-imagined scenes for the series while also depicting the lives of Tibetan people.

10 am-1 pm, 2-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 21 Pudu Temple West Alleyway, Dongcheng district, Beijing.010-6528-1891.

Aquatic life

Hai Cuo Tu is a collection of four volumes in which Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) painter and biologist Nie Huang depicted more than 300 sea creatures in gongbi, a style of classic Chinese painting, marked by meticulous brushwork. The paintings have been given a renewed look by oil artist You Yong in which he presents the creatures in the way of still life. While Nie cataloged his underwater subjects from a scientific point of view, You has interpreted them in animation but in a calm, reserved manner. You's version of Hai Cuo Tu is on show at his namesake solo exhibition at the Tang Contemporary Art's Beijing Headquarters space, located at the National Base for International Cultural Trade. On show are dozens of portraits, landscapes and still life pieces since 2010, which reflect You's consistency with the classical tradition and modernism in his career. The exhibition ends on Sept 23.

11 am-6:30 pm, closed on Mondays. B5, Yard No 3, Jinhang East Road, Shunyi district, Beijing.

Five artists

Yin, an exhibition at Jupiter Museum of Art in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, teams up five leading contemporary artists who share an educational background in print art. They have incorporated lithographical techniques and philosophies into their contemporary art. The exhibition shows more than 40 works to compare their distinctive methods of creation. Su Xinping rose to fame for prints that depict the lives of people in his native Inner Mongolia autonomous region, in a surrealistic way. His works in recent years have taken on an even more experimental look. Tan Ping is into painting, printmaking, mixed-media work, installations and designs. His work is marked with a highly individualistic, abstract style. Xu Bing is best known for his invention of a system called "square world calligraphy "with which he makes English letters into structures that resemble Chinese characters. Chen Qi's prints reflect his years of dedication to giving traditional Chinese woodblock techniques a contemporary revival. Feng Mengbo has carved a niche for his works in which he has challenged the boundaries of art. Curated by art critic Chen Lyusheng, the exhibition runs through to Sept 25.

10 am-6 pm, closed on Mondays. 6 Lanhua Road, Futian district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

China Daily