Jewel of a painting

Artist Shidi has made an impact with her abstract paintings in the China Pavilion, not least for what was used in their composition

Stepping off the elevator and into the China Pavilion, visitors are greeted by three giant paintings along a wall.

These abstract works together span 10 meters in length and stand 5-meters high, each one is in three original colors. Shidi, an artist who has lived in China and France for more than 10 years, used unusual media - snow water and finely ground gemstones called micro-crystals.

"I used the snow water from Beijing in the first winter after the Olympics to render a rosy world, the snow water from the Alps in the early winter of 2009 to make a blue universe, and snow water from Shanghai on the Chinese New Year Eve this year to produce an orange yellow river," she said.

Shidi is the first Chinese national to obtain an Accredited Jewelry Professional diploma and a Graduate Gemologist diploma issued by the Gemological Institute of America.

"I have loved to collect stones since childhood," she said. "Each stone embodies an energy circle - it is alive."

She adds micro-crystals to pigments in her paintings, expressing her passion for precious stones.

"You can't get jewel powder from gems. However you can ground the gems, creating micro-crystals," she said.

A student of traditional Chinese philosophy and the classic Chinese text, Book Of Changes, she is familiar with the Chinese philosophical symbolism that metal gives birth to water and water gives birth to everything on earth. By painting with snow water and micro-crystals, she has created her artwork with the flow of energy.

A special venue like the China Pavilion needs to impress audiences with contemporary Chinese art, said Song Jianming, who was responsible for the interior design of the pavilion.

"Large oil paintings are common. If we wanted to surprise the audience, we'd choose watercolor paintings," Song said, explaining why Shidi's paintings were chosen. "To serve this purpose, traditional Chinese water-ink painting would be inappropriate. We needed a visual impact, something modern and contemporarily Chinese."