He set up his photoblog in 2001 to show how common people live their lives in Beijing. The blog includes a variety of pictures ranging from young women eating noodles to bored security guards.

"Like when I'm taking photos, I only draw what I am interested in, especially my own life," he says.

According to the curators, when they visited Zhejiang province-based artist Chen Wei, they were impressed by his photographic works, which carry an irresistible sense of closeness.

Museums reach across the Straits

Chen says when he first started out as an artist, he was filled with anxieties. He later turned his hopeless wait for inspiration into a contradictory commentary on the gap between expectation and reality.

"We grew up in a world of chaos. For the older generation artists, they all have similar enemies. But for young artists today, we have to face various types of challenges," says 32-year-old Chen.

"Art makes my life interesting."

Bao opines that young Chinese artists, unlike the older generation, focus on their own lives even as they are bombarded by information from inside and outside China.

"They try to fit into the international art scene while maintaining their own identities," he adds.

Unknown horizons

Meanwhile, Philip Tinari, the director of UCCA, says that On | Off offers a platform for new forces of Chinese contemporary art.

"We want to give insights to let people know what's going on in Chinese contemporary art world.

"We are not telling people how to judge or what to interpret. We want to offer multiple ways to observe contemporary Chinese art," he says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.