What's on

Art pioneer

Chen Shuren is recognized as one of the three pioneers, along with Gao Jianfu and Gao Qifeng, of the Lingnan painting school, a progressive art group that emerged in Guangdong province in the beginning of the 20th century. The school reformed the style of classical Chinese painting and gave it a modern temperament to cater to popular interest beyond the literati. An exhibition at the National Art Museum of China is now showing dozens of paintings by Chen, providing a glimpse of his endeavor to save a traditional art form from rigid doctrines and to revive it. The paintings on show are from a donation to the National Art Museum by Chen's wife, Ju Ruowen, in 1961, two years before the museum opened to the public. Chen's art is the Beijing museum's first collection. The exhibition ends on Jan 3.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6400-1476.

Nara's 'houses'

Yoshitomo Nara, a representative figure of contemporary Japanese art, enjoys a wide fan base that is attracted by his signature protagonist, a girl with big round eyes, in his works. Drawing inspiration from his childhood, experiences of living in different cultures and from children's books, Nara lends his characters a psychological depth that resonates with the loneliness and rebellious nature of young people. Two of Nara's iconic installations, Not Everything But/Green House and Not Everything But/Orange House, are on a long-term display at Deji Art Museum in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The two both show a playhouse, each with a cone-shaped roof in either green or orange. Inside the houses, standing at 6.7 meters and 4.7 meters respectively, there are paintings, dolls and other collectible objects by Nara that provide clues to his creative concepts. Entering the houses, people will find themselves in a fantasy land with little distinction between dreams and reality.

2-10 pm, Monday; 10 am-10 pm, Tuesday-Sunday. 18 Zhongshan Lu, Xuanwu district, Nanjing, Jiangsu province. 025-8677-7999.

Artist duo

Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, both from Sweden, have been working together since 2004.While Djurberg makes animated films using clay, Berg composes atmospheric music. A Moon Wrapped in Brown Paper, an ongoing exhibition at Prada Rong Zhai in Shanghai, shows a selection of sculptures, installations and videos created by the two artists since 2000. The exhibition title is inspired by Valentine, a poem by British author Carol Ann Duffy. The duo have created an organic carpet that connects the venue's several rooms on different layers and guides visitors through the show to a world charged with dramatic presentations and emotional tension. They explore the depths of human desire and animal instinct through their work. The exhibition runs through Jan 9 and is supported by Fondazione Prada. The venue, which opened in 2017, is restored from a residence built in 1918.

186 North Shanxi Road, near West Nanjing Road, Jing'an district, Shanghai.

Chengdu biennale

This year's Chengdu biennale, titled Super Fusion, brings together more than 500 paintings, sculptures, installations, videos and works of digital art from artists across the world. The exhibition occupies Chengdu Art Museum's two venues of more than 24,000 square meters, introducing to local audiences the latest trends in the global art community: How artists from different cultural backgrounds and living experiences utilize various forms and methods of art to boost social creativity. The biennale inaugurates two new exhibition spaces, Tianfu Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art Chengdu, both affiliated to Chengdu Art Museum. Local authorities say that they hope the event will help improve the city's cultural development. The biennale runs through April 6.

18 Jinniuba Road, Jinniu district, Chengdu, Sichuan province.