Writer:Debra Li

(From L) Deng Binbin, curator of the show, Dai Yun, Li Liao and Jolie Zhou at a news briefing Wednesday.

Works of six contemporary Chinese artists and three from outside China will be presented during a month-long exhibition at the Artron Art Center in Nanshan District starting Sunday.

Titled “Distracted Unity,” the show will bring paintings, prints, videos and sculptures by a group of artists who live in Shenzhen yet with influences that reach beyond China.

The debut show in the museum/library on the fifth floor of the Artron Art Center, a blue building in the shape of a heart on Shenyun Road, promises to present a rich experience to art fans and an inclusive glimpse of contemporary art in the city.

 One etching from Yan Shanchun’s “West Lake” series. Jolie Zhou’s mixed media on canvas “Blue Lovers.” A statue from Dai Yun’s “Forever of the Northern Dynasties” series.

Liang Quan, born in 1948, is the oldest of the exhibiting artists. Receiving his master’s degree in 1982 from the San Francisco Art Institute, Liang had been teaching at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art) before becoming a painter with the Shenzhen Painting Academy. Having exhibited extensively in Asia, Germany and the United States, the artist is known for his experiments combining traditional ink painting with abstract art. Light shades and a resulting serene beauty are the hallmarks of his works. On exhibition will be his “Sea of Tea,” created by tea on Chinese painting paper and “Untitled,” an ink and wash painting.

Another artist that straddles the line of traditional Chinese painting and abstract art is Jolie Zhou, born in the 1960s. She will exhibit “Blue Lovers,” mixed media on canvas and “Lines.”

“I have always tried to explore the relationship between traditions and our own times. I was a student of Chinese painting when I was young. To me, the highest level of Chinese aesthetics is represented by calligraphy,” said Zhou. Her paintings, featuring lines on layers of shades, capture the rhythms of calligraphy and the complexity of the world she sees. “I’ve found a comfortable way to express my innermost feelings by painting.”

Trained in traditional Chinese calligraphy and influenced by American abstract painting, Yan Shanchun, born in 1957, will present 24 etchings from his “West Lake” series created between 2013 and 2015. Impressing the viewers as quiet and poetic, the works are named after places in Hangzhou, Yan’s hometown. “Those sceneries I captured are from my memories and more of impressions than what they actually look today,” he said. Using sulfur powder and olive oil for the etching process and printed on Japanese-made paper, Yan’s works resemble antique silver plate photographs.

Compared with the works of other artists in the show, the etchings are rather small in size. “The museum/library is an appropriate venue to read quietly, and the works I’ve chosen for this show provide an experience similar to Chinese hand scrolls.”

A video of Svitlana Zavialova’s dance “Hidden Wu” is shown at the exhibition. Courtesy of the Artron Art Center.

Dai Yun, a teacher with Shenzhen University born in 1971, graduated from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts.

Created from bricks and concrete, Dai’s “Still Life” series depicts commodities on the shelves of Shenzhen supermarkets and furniture displayed in an Ikea store. “I embrace the convenience of living a modern life, with an abundance of mass-produced commodities, but I also feel a nostalgia for the constrained and thrifty way of life in the past,” Dai said. “Therefore, I use bricks, an ancient building material, in my works.”

Another piece from Dai, “Forever of the Northern Dynasties,” created out of red bricks, concrete, rebar and angle iron, is an effort to interpret Chinese history and traditions in the contemporary context.

Li Liao, a Hubei Province native born in the 1980s, will exhibit videos of himself. “Spring Breeze,” showing himself chained to a corner in the office building where his then girlfriend worked, explores the alienation of humans in modern society. “My girlfriend spent eight hours a day in the cubicle in her upstairs office. Although she was moving about, she was just like me — chained to her daily work routine,” Li explained. “Shenzhen is a symbol of today’s China, a miracle city growing fast where East meets West and traditions confront modernity. I find myself surrounded by materials that can be channeled into my works.”

Jiang Zhi, a graduate of the China Academy of Art born in 1971, will exhibit oil paintings and a video installation. Presenting the images of a man and woman, the piece, capturing their rich body language, explores the tension between people in love and how they can hurt each other.

Svitlana Zavialova, a performing artist and writer from Ukraine, will perform a live dance show “Hidden Wu” at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Video of her dance, with music by Maarten Rischen from the Netherlands and edited by Russian artist Anastasia Lebedeva, will be shown during the exhibition.

Trained in Beijing opera and martial arts, Zavialova’s dance tells the story of a woman traveling alone, fighting evils lurking around her and also the dark sides of her own nature.

Time: Oct. 23-Nov. 20

Venue: 5/F, Artron Art Center, 19 Shenyun Road, Nanshan District (南山区深云路19号雅昌艺术中心5楼)

Buses: 25, 104, 325, 326, B706, B729 (Shahe Jiangongcun Stop)

Metro: Shekou Line, Qiaocheng North Station (侨城北站), Exit D