3D art in rustic market draws hordes of photography lovers


A once inconspicuous building materials market, located in Gangxi town on Shanghai's Chongming island, has become a hotspot for photography enthusiasts thanks to newly created 3D paintings.
Painted on seven walls of the market, these works feature bright and colorful scenes of nature that include illustrations of sunflowers, lush forests and cherry blossoms. As these paints blend in almost seamlessly with the surrounding environment, visitors have used them as a backdrop for photos.
The creation of the wall paintings started last year when Ganxi started a clean-up project as part of Chongming island's preparation to host the 2021 China Flower Expo, which would cover a 10-square-kilometer area and increase the forest coverage of the expo site to 35 percent.
During the renovation of the desolated market, some suggested introducing wall paintings to make the rustic market more attractive. The hearing-impaired artists of the UDS Art Office were later invited to create the seven paintings on the walls. The works proved to be so popular that the village commissioned more along the major road that runs across the village.
Gu Songlan, party secretary of Gangxi town, noted that beautification of the roads has "made more residents realize what is beauty", and this has spurred them to create more art works to make their home village even more aesthetically pleasing.
Wang Junlin contributed to this story.