Taking a deeper look to peer beyond the beauty

Chinese artist Chen Chunmu uses various media to express thoughts and reflections on such social issues as environmental protection, urbanization and social development－and he wants viewers to look beyond the beauty of his works.

His solo show, Look Beyond What We See, at Beijing's Hongkun Museum of Fine Art, displays over 20 works he has produced in the past three years, including oil paintings, installations and mixed-media works.

"We're attracted to beautiful things. But we seldom explore what's beneath the beauty," the Beijing-based artist says.

In his Classic of Grasses and Woods, Chen paints brightly colored flowers and worms on three bed boards to portray migrant workers' dreams.

Their wishes all come true when they're dreaming. But they're far away when they awake to live in cities where they struggle, says Chen, who moved to Beijing in 2007.

Chen was born in a village in Fuji-an province's Anxi, where farmers made their livings growing tea.

Most people have moved to cities, leaving the elderly, children and tumbledown houses.

Chen often weaves village life into his works. Mushrooms, flowers and worms appear frequently in his art. He spent his childhood picking mushrooms and playing in the woods.

His installation My Weapon deploys fire spears people in his hometown use during celebrations. Villagers fill the tips with gunpowder to create loud bangs to beseech the gods.