A large contemporary art show opened at Shanghai 800 Art Zone on May 16 to display paintings by five artists.

The show, which will go until the end of May, is sponsored by the China Charity Federation as a present to the ongoing World Expo, said Yu Jianhua, who is in charge of the show.

A landscape painting by Fan Yang, on display at the contemporary art show, which opened on Sunday. [chinadaily.com.cn]

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Yu said the five artists, Fan Yang, Li Xiaoxuan, Liu Jin'an, He Jialin and Jia Guangjian, are representatives of contemporary art in combining China's traditional art with modern painting techniques.

Fan Yang, a well-known contemporary painter of Chinese ink and wash paintings, draws wash paintings with a variety of subjects. His works pay more attention to the happy blend of feelings and settings to reflect a good combination of traditional and modern color.

He Jialin, a representative of mountains-and-waters painters in the Zhejiang school, has created a new level of traditional Chinese landscape paintings.

"Paintings should not be confined to one concept or one tradition. It should balance tradition with modern techniques," he said.

He has chosen a way to combine the traditional skills in wash painting with Western modern painting techniques, making contributions to the development of traditional Chinese paintings of mountains and waters, said Lang Shaojun, a well-known art critic.