TWO contrasting exhibitions — one is masculine and easy-going, the other is tranquil and elegant — have recently opened at the Pingshan Art Museum. Li Liao’s “The Wife Went to Start a Business” and Yan Shanchun’s “Fuchun” are the sixth and seventh exhibitions in the art museum’s “Shenzhen Contemporary Artists Series.” “The Wife Went to Start a Business” showcases Li’s installations and videos based on his six-month temporary job as a food delivery man in Shenzhen. His wife started her business by launching a fashion brand, which brought financial uncertainty to the family, so Li decided to deliver takeaways to support the family, immersing himself in labor that also prompted art creations. A windmill made up of four traffic barriers rotates in the exhibition hall, a circular road with tile, concrete, asphalt surfaces, steel sheets and composite panels covers the floor, Li’s humming when riding his motorcycle on streets is repeatedly played on a video, and a large photo of a man’s sun-burned arm against the backdrop of the cityscape is eye-catching in the hall. “When Li started to work, the whole city thus became his ‘studio,’ fueling his creativity and adding to his life experiences,” Shen Chen, the exhibition curator, wrote in the curatorial statement. Through labor and experiencing hardship in delivering takeaways, Li has sensed the perseverance and positivity of humans and reflected it in his exhibition. An oil painting graduate from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Li, 41, is renowned for presenting a series of real-life situations mixed with artistic actions. He is interested in the ordinary absurdities of reality and aims to expose the social complexities in simple environments that appear mundane in his installations and performances. At Yan’s exhibition, the artist presents his sensible artistic expression in paintings portraying the four seasons in Fuchun, an ancient area around modern Tonglu County and Fuyang District in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Since ancient times, Fuchun has also become a natural imagery in literati’s poems or travelogues thanks to its unique geographical location in East China and its lush hills and clear rivers. According to the curatorial statement, as a Hangzhou native, Yan views the mountains and rivers in Fuchun from a perspective other than those of the ancient literati. In recent years, he has visited Fuchun several times to study its majestic mountains and winding rivers, a practice that is similar to Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) painter Huang Gongwang’s years-long experience in creating “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” and Cézanne’s experience of repeated depictions of Mont Sainte-Victoire. In drawing from life around Fuchun, Yan continues to explore the possibilities of contemporary art and applies the visual elements he observes to his paintings. Yan, 66, holds a bachelor’s degree in printmaking and a doctorate in art history and theory from the China Academy of Art. He has been dedicated to studying art theory and creative practices over the years, especially in Chinese literati painting and Western abstract painting. He adopts copper plate engraving and mixed media to express his memories and feelings about the West Lake in his hometown Hangzhou, and the landscapes around the Fuchun River. The landscape there has become an essential element of his painting vocabulary. The closing dates of both exhibitions haven’t yet been announced. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Mondays Venue: Pingshan Art Museum, Pingshan District (坪山美術館) Metro: Line 14 to Pingshan Square Station (坪山廣場站), Exit D1 (SD News) | 