[Photo/China Daily]

Wang Mai goes further to dwell on the roles of petroleum and gold in international trade, aeronautical advances and technological breakthroughs. He notes that, while industrial progress has improved the world, it also creates environmental issues and "fast food" cultures, which do not look beautiful at all.

In Clone Family No 2, Wang Mai portrays himself, long-haired and bathed in neon light, holding a cloned baby of himself. He painted it in 1997, a year after Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to be successfully cloned.

"It (the painting) is a declaration that, when people transform themselves or are being transformed, they should gain independence in judgment and not be 'cloned' spiritually," he says.

Wang Mai also demonstrates a full-bodied perspective of the grassroots. For example, a young diaosi man recurs in his paintings. The Chinese term refers to people who consider themselves losers in a highly competitive society.

"This is me," Wang Mai says, pointing to the man in the paintings.