WEST Bund, a new icon on Shanghai’s art map, is hosting “Art West Bund 2017,” with 10 exhibitions that kicked off in 16 venues last weekend.

Among them, two exhibitions at ShanghART stand out — “Dark Wave” by emerging female artist Hu Liu, and “Sha Sha Sha” by veteran artist Liang Shaoji form a profound art journey.

Although they use different media for their works, one using pencils and the other using silk, there’s something very similar in their works — an elegant, subtle and poetic atmosphere wafted over their works.

‘Dark Wave’

For many, Hu is not a familiar name. This is her first solo exhibition.

“‘Dark Wave’ doesn’t speak about blackness. It is the whisper in the dark era,” she says.

Born in 1982 in Xinyang, Henan Province, Hu graduated from Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in 2004.

She sticks to pencil drawing. Each piece takes months and thousands of pencils.

Through her works, Hu tries to create another way of viewing: black, as a light-absorbing color, interacts with the refraction caused by the graphite of pencil.

Only by looking closely can visitors see the texture and veins hiding within the black.

Some marks of the Renaissance period and the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) painting are apparent in her drawings.

“In the darkness, entering into deeper darkness” is her attitude in this dusky world. Just as the preface implies:

“Wherever I turn, the dark wave rushes down on me.”

‘Sha Sha Sha’

Born in 1945, Liang has used silk from silkworms as his medium for 28 years.

The three “Sha” share the exact same pronunciation but have different meanings: 纱 (sha), the texture of silk; 砂 (sha), sand which is a main component of the pivotal work in the space; and 沙 (sha), the sound generated by silkworms while feasting on mulberry leaves.

The multi-structural large-scale installation titled “Moon Garden” was initially exhibited in Qatar Museums in 2016.

The S-shape acrylic sheets reflect Liang’s interpretation of Mesopotamia — one of the cradles of Western civilization.

He expressed poetically through silk, sand, silk-covered daggers and mirrors, drawing inspiration from the power struggles and shifting alliances in the Middle East.

A silk-layered rusty sunken boat, the “Aegean Sea,” manifests the artist’s concern about the refugee crisis; a pile of burned plastic barrels scattered in the corners, imply the ignorance of humanity — a warning through the application of the mundane, low-priced and vulnerable materials.

The artist tends to invite the visitors to see the flow of time and the mysteries of life through his idea of “ecology, life, environment and contemporary ecological aesthetics.”

Date: Through May 6 (closed on Mondays), 11am-6pm

Address: 2555-10 Longteng Ave, Xuhui District