About 190 artists are displaying 250 works in many genres in the annual Shanghai Youth and Midlife Artists Exhibition at the Mingyuan Art Center.

"We aim to promote the 'stars' of the art community and provide them a platform," says Ling Feifei, in charge of the art center, adding that the annual event helps strengthen the image of the city's art scene.

The exhibit is mostly oils but includes traditional ink-wash paintings and sculpture. The oils are realistic, impressionistic and abstract, covering a range of subjects.

Female artist Wang Yuhong, born in 1972, paints her childhood moods through a series of still-lifes, one including a kerosene lamp, old books, a vase and bowl.

It is easy while at the same time very difficult to execute meaningful still lifes. Once the technique is grasped, it's not too difficult to complete a realistic painting, but the difficult part lies in creating a particular aura and rendering a message from the artist's heart.

"There is a certain emotional appeal that is revealed through the paintings," says Wang. "These objects are no longer stagnant or dead, and the artist tries to infuse them with his or her own sentiment. It is closely related with the experience, the taste, and the mood of an artist."

Wang expresses her nostalgia for a bygone time, a quiet, private and peaceful period.

Likewise, Liu Qiyi, the director of the oil painting department at Shanghai Normal University, paints a still life of crabs and mussels on a plate. The shellfish look so real that one can almost smell them.

Shanghai Youth and Midlife Artists Exhibition
Date: through January 31, 9am-6pm
Address: 5/F, 1199 Fuxing Rd M.
Tel: 021-64738383