City and stillness on canvas

In addition to his role as a veteran researcher at art museum, Ren Zhe has created a body of oil paintings depicting scenes at museum galleries, spaces he is quite familiar with.

The works show few, or mostly, no audience at all, but paintings on the walls. The audience's attention is drawn to the harmonious use of colors and the way he frames the walls, floors and ceilings to accentuate a compositional beauty. He creates a beauty of simplicity and muteness.

Ren's ongoing exhibition at the China Millennium Monument, Where the Gaze Falls, the Heart Set Free, showcases this museum series along with cityscapes, in which he explores that minimalist tendency in classical Chinese art in a modern context. The exhibition is until Aug 3.

The museum series can also be seen as how Ren reinterprets his subjects — the iconic pieces in art history — an attempt to reconnect people with history. The city landscapes, inspired by what he sees on the way to work and back home, reflect the inner world of urban dwellers.