Experimental artist Wang Yizhou displays a gigantic installation artwork using rice paper as his artistic medium to create the mountain and water in a sculptural manner. His solo exhibition opened on January 30, 2016.[Photo: Today Art Museum]

Related:An Abstract Art Exhibition Opens in Today Art Museum

Anchor : A journey to discover the best art exhibitions is oftentimes highly favored by young students and seniors during the winter holidays.

Here in Beijing, the Today Art Museum wants to share with its visitors some of China's outstanding contemporary artworks at two exhibitions, both of which are scheduled to run until March.

Xu Fei has more.

Reporter: Wang Yizhou is a Shanghai-based experimental artist, who is enthusiastic about the traditional ink and wash painting, calligraphy, western oil painting and also modern installation art.

His ongoing solo exhibition is named "Displacement" and would first impress visitors with an gigantic inverted "Mountain" which occupies an entire exhibition hall on the second floor of the Today Art Museum.

The artist excitedly explains his inspiration for this installation art.

"I had made a similar piece of work out of rice paper and put it into an ink tank. Then the rice paper gradually absorbed the ink until the entirety of the paper-made mountain turned black. I used a video camera to record the transformation process. Later I thought this process is interesting and wanted to try hanging the gigantic installation."

With the long and curved lines as the structure of the mountain, this installation art also creates a poetic and artistic environment for visitors. However, the size of the mountain doesn't put pressure on its visitors.

Wang Yizhou attributes the artistic atmosphere to their good use of space in the exhibition hall.

"We leave a space around the installation giving visitors a feel they are able to see far and remote areas. I hope the inverted mountain would impress viewers with its magnificence. Meanwhile, I use a projector enabling visitors to see shadows on the walls and the floor, which I think may arouse viewers' interest."

And if this solo exhibition can't satisfy your desire for good art, you may go to another abstract art exhibition that showcases a total of 16 artists' work over the past 30 years.

The comprehensive research exhibition of abstract art in China has also recently opened in the Today Art Museum.

Tan Ping is the vice-director of the China Art Research Institute, an organization that initiated this exhibition. He says the exhibition aims to present the achievements in abstract art in China.

"The artists we've selected for this exhibition have created abstract artworks for more than 20 years, and formed their unique art style and expression."

According to senior curator Zhu Qingsheng, the artists involved in the ongoing exhibition are all pioneers in the development of abstract art in China.

"This group of artists embarked on abstract art when this art form was still unpopular and banned by the government. These artists, in my opinion, are all very independent, unwavering in their pursuit and could foresee the trend in art."

Professor Zhu also noted that Chinese people lack understanding in abstract art and think that modern art refers to only those oil paintings that are made to criticize social phenomenon.

Also in a bid to improve the audience's ability to understand and appreciate abstract art in China, exhibition projects will also be held in other venues around China throughout the year.

Last but not least, artist Wang Yizhou's solo exhibition will run until March 12 while the abstract art exhibition in Beijing will run until March 13th.

For Studio Plus, I'm Xu Fei.