"Contrast and Contradiction" is the name of the opening show of the Shanghai branch of the Hong Kong-based Contrast Galley, whose aim is to combine fine art and luxury.

Pure fine art is different from design and even further away from luxury but Contrast Gallery is trying to bring them together.

"Contrast and Contradiction" features 15 artworks by 15 Chinese contemporary artists. They include paintings, installations, sculptures and design works.

The artists are mainstream in China but some of them are new to commercial design as they have been working as painters for decades. The gallery encourages established painters to try design because they are familiar with installations which involve design.

Contrast Gallery was established in 1992. Pearl Lam, the owner, advocates commercial design rather than the traditional way of selling paintings. She values Chinese characteristics which are a major selling point.

"There are no boundaries in the field of art," she says. "But we must know what our nationality is in the first place. To follow foreign trends will not result in creativity or originality."

The 15 exhibits bear no relationship to one another, but they reflect subjects such as traditional Chinese culture, hegemony, China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) and the war on terrorism.

For example, a statue of Liu Hulan, titled "The Death of Liu Hulan," is made in painted fiberglass by Yu Fan. Liu is a household name in China as a heroine and revolutionary martyr. She was tortured and executed by the Japanese at the age of 15.

In conventional posters, Liu is shown in a pose of defiance at her execution, like the Scottish hero William Wallace. In Yu's work, she is lying in a pool of blood -- after the Japanese cut off her head.
The artist clearly shows the mutilation and the huge area of bright red blood but in the smooth and shining surface of fiberglass. The statue does not look terrifying -- on the contrary, it leaves the viewer with a feeling of solemnity and sorrow.

Another subject -- war and terrorism -- is paradoxically treated rather playfully. In a painting titled "Illusion" by Shu Hao, Osama Bin Laden is seen with two elves from a video game.

Good theme In Yang Ming's work "Red Bombs," three bombs are shown with "instructions" on them telling how to use them. One reads: "Don't use this during the Olympic Games, women's period and Ramadan."

The relationship between Eastern and Western culture is always a good theme. In Li Ji's "Rocking," he has created an interactive see-saw to discuss the issue. On one end of the see-saw is a wooden sculpture of a Chinese dragon; on the other is a Western dragon.

Visitors can rock the see-saw to make the two dragons go up and down in a dynamic balance.

Sun Liang, a Shanghai abstract painter, also has his latest works displayed -- several 2-meter "Abacus Chairs."

Sun says it was at an exhibition in 2004 that some critics and gallery managers suggested he should do something closer to commercial design after seeing what he had done using silk.

Sun tried making tables and cabinets of glass using his skill in installation work, "but the works could not be displayed due to some technical problems," he says.

Last April, Sun was inspired by the Chinese abacus. His "Abacus Chairs" have stainless steel frames made of metal sticks with hundreds of balls made of glass, crystal, china and cloisonné. Under the carefully set-up lighting effects, the balls give off a beautiful glow.

"I have wanted to achieve the effect of transparency ever since my early trial works which imitated the gardens of Suzhou," Sun says. "Now with good material and the right workmanship, they look just ... gorgeous."

Date: through January 31, 2006, 10 AM-5PM
Address: 5/F, 133 Sichuan Rd M.
Tel: 6321-9606

(Shanghai Daily December 5, 2005)