Bridge of Life

Wang Mai is showing oil paintings he has created over the past two decades, including Venus Aircraft Carrier and Stealing the Immortal Grass－Autumn Harvest. [Photo/China Daily]

Wang Mai's progress in oil painting over the last two decades is marked by Spring Comes Back in a Magic Hand, an exhibition now running at the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum.

In the title, the character "spring" (chun in Chinese) has three meanings: his hometown Yichun, a forest-enveloped city bordering Russia; a fascination with remaining forever young in the practice of Taoism; and a pursuit of youthful beauty held dear by modern-day consumers.

In his expressive, energetic works, Wang draws on childhood experiences－dense pine trees, thick snow, ice skaters and such natural specialties of northeastern China as lingzhi mushrooms (glossy ganoderma).

He juxtaposes these elements with beautiful girls, a reflection of the pop culture of nyushen (pretty women admired as goddesses). He thus creates absurd, surrealistic scenes that underlie people's anxieties and perplexities in an open but also rather commercial world.