Art of attraction

With auction prices soaring and hundreds of new studios, galleries and private art museums springing up everywhere, artists from all over the world are cashing in on the China action. Even shopping centers have become art venues. More than 500 Russian oil paintings are now exhibited at Shin Kong Place. Most of the works have been selected from the 2008 Russian Oil Painting Exhibition held in Moscow.

"Russian oil painting has a long tradition and has influenced many Chinese artists among whom some are teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Arts," says Min Li, the exhibition's organizer, who has been running the Jing Yi Yuan Russian Oil Painting Gallery in Beijing for eight years. Min, who studied oil painting in Russia, brought her professors' works to Beijing when she started her gallery. "I realized that there are many people who like Russian artworks thanks to historical reasons," she says. "Now, China is opening its art door to the world. It is also important to bring in foreign art works and absorb more knowledge."

Min has five branches of the gallery in Beijing, displaying more than 700 oil paintings from different eras. "Russian art has undergone an exciting renaissance that has produced a new generation of painters while maintaining traditions," Min says. The Russian oil painting exhibition will last till May 11. For those looking for more art from abroad, head to the galleries of Beijing's 798 art district.