The Power Station of Art's exhibition Portrait of the Times - 30 Years of Contemporary Art in Shanghai renders a panorama of China's contemporary art development since the early 1980s.

The show displays more than 300 works by 117 artists or groups. The pieces are borrowed from public museums and private collections around the country.

Many pieces are recognizable to most Chinese but have rarely - if ever - been shown in Shanghai.

"We hope to present the changes of the people and national spirit over time," curator Li Xu says.

The show aims to appeal to senior officials who subscribe to academic traditions, youth familiar with contemporary art and the public at large.

Perhaps the most famous work is Luo Zhongli's oil painting Father.

The painting belongs to Beijing's National Art Museum of China, the director of which recently suggested it not be allowed to leave because of safety concerns.

"It was created in 1980, when large paintings conventionally only portrayed national leaders and heroes," Li says.

Luo's depiction of a hardworking farmer won acclaim at the second national youth art exhibition that year.

"When the jury debated how the period the piece depicted could be determined, Luo - after much hemming and hawing - painted a ballpoint pen behind his ear," Li says.

Most Chinese contemporary art pioneers are oil painters or sculptors, but Gu Wenda is celebrated for ink works.

"The Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art forbade the exhibition or publication of my work," Gu recalls.

"I was considered a thorn in traditional art's side."

Gu grew up in the 1960s and went through the periods of socialist idealism and the enlightenment of the '80s. He later moved to New York City.

His installation UN is the centerpiece of the exhibition's lobby. The work is a series of national flags created from hair he got from thousands of people around the globe.

Gu recalls there were no galleries in the country when he shifted from ink to experimental art.

"At first, it wasn't about the market but art for art's sake," he says.

Oil painter Zhang Enli, who lives in Shanghai, points out: "You couldn't know if you made the right choices or created a work of significance until years later."

Beijing native Yu Hong presents a self-portrait series with newspapers and documents from that period. Her paintings trace her childhood, marriage and family life.

Her works, which are displayed alongside newspapers from that time, chronicle the country's rapid economic development and social transformations.

zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/25/2013 page15)