Simple sophistication

Show by veteran artist Guang Jun displays passion, commitment and a sense of humor, Lin Qi reports.

Guang Jun is noted for modesty and an easygoing attitude, as well as a sense of humor.

The veteran artist's ongoing one-man exhibition at the Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Life as It Is, conveys the same amiability and openness with which the 85-year-old treats people around him.

The spacious exhibition hall has been decorated as minimally as possible. Paintings, prints and sculptures hang on walls, and are placed on wooden boxes and tables, displayed in cabinets, or simply laid out on the ground. Some look finished while others do not, as if waiting to be tweaked or to be touched up later.

The chairs and sofas everywhere allow visitors to have a comfortable experience as they enjoy the work and the show. As they do, they can hear the harmonica being played by Guang, accompanied by his pet dog Hanhan, in a video that is part of the exhibition.

To accentuate the casual mood, tools and rubbish are piled up in one corner of the room, giving people the false impression that the exhibition is still in the process of being readied.