Deepening ties

Bao also went to Abraham Palatnik's home.

"The 89-year-old artist is too old to talk. But he creates new works every day. He has turned almost every room of his home into his workshop, except for the bedroom because of his wife's opposition."

Three acrylic paintings and a kinetic installation by Palatnik are on show at the exhibition.

Sui Jianguo, a sculptor and a retired professor from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, says that Brazilian works on show have impressed him with their vigor and variety.

He says Brazilian artists have made efforts to blend their European origins with the ethnic cultures of South America, and they provide insightful examples to Chinese artists who also endeavor to adapt cultural traditions to a modern context.

Sui's works on show explore the intimate relationship between an artist's hands and sculpting materials. They are exhibited in a pair with Saint Clair Cemin's bronze works, which review the development of sculpture.

Cemin says he has been fascinated by Chinese philosophy ever since he first read a book on Chinese Taoism and Confucianism at 14.

He says the book reshaped his values, and when he first came to China in 1999, he asked where the Taoist and Confucian practitioners were.

"Gradually I've found that the men whom I looked for were artists. In a fast-pace city like Beijing, artists express humanity and ideals in their own shelter-like studios.

"That is why the role of art should be paid attention to. Art extracts from day-to-day life the pure parts of human society, and artists need to present them to the audience in a clear way."