What's on

Art for cool days

The sanfu days — China's dog days — are three 10-day stretches marking the year's hottest, most humid period, usually spanning July and August. Oil painter Dai Shihe has borrowed the term as the title of his ongoing Shanghai exhibition, not only because it features his 1997 oil work of the same name — a painting of a freshly sliced, glistening watermelon — but also to stir thoughts of the coming autumn. The show, now underway at Liu Haisu Art Museum, charts the career of Dai, a professor of Central Academy of Fine Arts, spanning several decades in which he has always sought innovative methods to make art cool and experimental. His paintings burst with saturated colors and energetic, almost explosive brushwork, delivering a dramatic punch. Rooted in everyday life, they offer portraits of people's state of mind and subtle emotional shifts. The exhibition runs through Aug 31.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.1609 Yan'an Xi Lu, Changning district, Shanghai. 021-6270-1018.

Northwest vision

The 1980s and '90s saw an eruption of artworks depicting the landscapes and social lives of Northwest China with Duan Zhengqu as one of its pioneers. Rejecting conventional figurative brushwork, he explored an experimental style to praise the majestic Loess Plateau and the resilient, optimistic people who endure its harshness.

Duan's ongoing exhibition at Tsinghua University Art Museum until Oct 15, Stories of the Northwest, shows how he has been digging deep in this motif, now a hallmark of his art, over four decades. Raised in rural Henan province, Duan is no stranger to the vast countryside and village life in the Northwest. As his experiences and vision grew, his portrayals found more perspectives to depict the area, more exaggerated, even surreal.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. Tsinghua University, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-6278-1012.

Lifelong perfection

When Zhong Han enrolled at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1955, he was 26, a late start for someone to learn oil art. But he had talent, and was lucky to study under several good artists and teachers, such as Ai Zhongxin, Wei Qimei and Dong Xiwen. He devoted his career to portraying his homeland and its people, using bold colors and expansive compositions to secure his place in late 20th-century Chinese art.

Perfecting for Sixty Years, now at Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou, retraces Zhong's artistic journey to document the breadth and depth of social changes in China. Zhong died in 2023 at age 94. The exhibition runs through Sept 21.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 19 Bai'etan Nan Lu, Liwan district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province. 020-8890-2999.