The August 2026 Brief
The August 2026 Brief
Hainan Museum is hosting "Life in Pairs", an exhibition of Dehua porcelain celebrating the beauty of shared life. The exhibition will feature the sculpture "The Beauty of Harmony" (pictured on the poster above), an exquisite 2022-piece awarded by the China Artist Association and later acquired by the National Museum. Cranes are a traditional symbol of auspiciousness, but this particular artwork has the added meaning of warmth, shared life, community and the intimate connection between the people and the Motherland. Other pieces in the exhibition show peonies (wealth), lotuses (integrity) and other traditional symbols. Dehua porcelain is made at Dehua, Fujian province, and has been produced since the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Its special characteristic is the very low amount of iron oxide in it, resulting in a warm white or pale ivory color.
"Abdominal Joy: A Banquet for All" by Qiu Jiongjiong is an exhibition styled as a movie set. The space is divided in three sections/chapters, each telling a different folk story. Part One is about a Sichuan ghost which returns to the house of an old writer for the Mid-Autumn Festival (this year it falls on 25 September, the exhibition's closing date). Part Two is about a farmer throwing a party for a king who has returned from the Underworld is a cuckoo. Part Three follows the story of a tribe leader preparing a final meal for her ancestors before she herself passes away.
InterContinental Hotel is hosting "Emergent Forms" by Huang Yiwei. The exhibition spans the entire hotel, visitors are invited to roam the premises and discover the pieces by themselves. Each artwork is made of iron or stainless-steel wire giving off a feeling of delicacy and high-end aesthetics while also being deeply thought-provoking. The high-heels piece on the poster is a reference to the chains of elegance and the pressure of high standards. Another piece shows a handbag in the shape of a heart made of wires (blood vessels) asks us to consider the role of consumerist desires in our lives.
Shanghai Art Museum is showing "Beyond the Unexplored" by Fang Zengxian (1931 – 2019) one of the key people behind the Shanghai Biennale. The exhibition features over 400 pieces - traditional Chinese paintings, oil paintings, sculpture, watercolour, manuscripts, sketches - showing how the artist tried to portray modern life in the style of traditional aesthetics. This is the biggest and most comprehensive exploration of Fang's work ever. In 2013, the artist was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2nd China Fine Art Awards.
Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning is hosting "Painted visage. Spirited line", a retrospective of Pan Yuliang (1895 – 1977), the first Chinese female artist to paint in the Western style. She studied in France and Italy and blended oil techniques and traditional Chinese style in her works. Studying the art of Pan Yuliang is a must for every student of Modern Chinese art as she is one of the key figures.
Mia Zhang's solo exhibition "She becomes herself" explores the topics of being vs becoming; journey vs destination; process vs outcome. The artist invites us to think of ourselves as an ongoing project which is never really fully finalised; to think in real time about how events and people in our lives affect us; how is the story changing and changing us in real time. Thus, walking through the exhibition becomes and exercise in self-observation, analysis and (re)discovery.
"Reconstructing perception" is a group show by 9 artists who explore algorhythms and their impact on our senses. Nine artists, nine different perspectives on how modern technology dulls our perceptions. Being surrounded by innovative technologies, we are constantly stimulated to react and respond. This raises the thresholds of our senses to a point where to feel something we need massive doses of stimulation. The exhibition aims to draw the attention of the audience to this phenomenon.
Lumina Art in Shanghai is hosting "The mental be vague", a group show by Pan Feng, Ji Chaobo and Sun Qianzhe. The three artists offer us three different interpretations of the Daoist understanding of vagueness and formlessness, existence and non-existence. According to the Dao, everything in this world is both distinct and blurred, real and unreal at the same time. The artists use ink and wash to create artworks that take us to that space in-between. Walking through the exhibition becomes an journey through that hazy space within our own lives and psyche?
"Mountains and rivers in painting" at Li Yebing Art Museum shows donated artworks exploring the past and present of Taiyuan. The city's strategic location is the reason it was chosen as the main or the secondary capital of nine Chinese dynasties and to this day remains one of the key economic, political, military and cultural centers in the Northern part of the country. Notably, Taiyuan was the homebase of Li Yuan, the founder of the Tang Dynasty (considered to be China's Golden Age). The exhibition aims to revive memories of the city and invites the local residents to reconnect with their town.
"Gaze Fragments" by Shi Yonghui explores the life of modern women through small close-up glimpses of their lives. Jewelry, high-heels, haircuts - all these have become signature preoccupations of modern young cosmopolitan women. By drawing our attention to this side of women, the artist invites us to celebrate light-hearted vanity and the joy of being a woman.
"A journey of ten thousand miles" at Zhu Qizhan Art Museum features paintings created by two artists (Zhu Qizhan and Qian Shoutie) on their journey through southern China (Shanghai to Tang Dynasty capital Xi'an/Chang'an) in 1957. The journey is considered to have been a huge moment in the history of Chinese art because it created a dialogue between the Shanghai School and the Chang'an School. At the time, both Schools were trying to "modernise" traditional Chinese painting styles by introducing novel elements seen in Western art (to innovate without betraying the tradition) but the approaches were different. The Shanghai School focused on vibrant colours and more vigorous brushstrokes while the Chang'an School stood out for thicker/heavier strokes, novel choice of subject matters and perspective.
Zhou Yunyi's "Soft thorns" explores hidden threats and enemies; those events and people in our lives that at first appear as non-threatening but later harm us. The artist extends this concept to capture the self-defeating habits hiding in our daily routines, those things that wear us down slowly. Expanding the concept even further, Zhou draws our attention to how everything perceived as "soft" can harm us if we are unaware that softness can also be a (thorny) weapon.
"Haze of Memories", a new solo exhibition by Wang Xiaoshuang, features 14 new works which show women in different (but predominantly domestic) setups. Wang invites us to explore the role and identity of women within relationships, within the domestic environment, and within the larger community as well as how women themselves see their abovementioned roles. In many ways, Wang's character is a modern woman by herself, looking within and wondering how she looks without. The paintings seem to capture this moment of transcendence when one realises they are seen and experienced differently by different people. It is this simultaneous multi-being that "Haze of Memories" invites us to examine.
Jiang Zhi's "Love Letters" features flower arrangements typical of the 70s and 80s. Real and artificial flowers are juxtaposed to highlight the difference between a fleeting moment and eternity. Real flowers frozen in time are a symbol of beauty and destruction, the unstoppable passage of time. Plastic flowers betray our inner fear of the transient nature of existence.
Fu Yao's "Interplaying" mixes symbolism and surrealism to create a unique world within which mythical creatures co-exist with humans. This blend is an expression of the simultaneous existence of the seen and unseen worlds, of sacred and secular realities. This latest series of artworks places an emphasis on the chessboard as a metaphor for the game of life. The clothes of the characters, the predominantly casino-ish colour palette both point to role-playing, strategy and some sort of behind-the-scenes scheming. This is yet another novel angle from which the artist explores the topic of symbolism, surrealism and the co-existence of multiple narratives/realities at the same time.
"Warp & Weft of Yunjian: Root of Shanghai International Fiber Art Biennale" is on view for the entire second half of this year. The 2026 edition celebrates Songjiang's legendary weaving heritage (Songjiang is a district of Shanghai known for being the largest cotton textile center in China, earning renown for its massive production and innovation). The exhibitions feature 76 works from 33 countries pushing the boudaries of contemporary fiber sculpture art.