Classic scenes come to life

Souvenirs of characters from Jimmy Liao's Turn Left, Turn Right are on sale at Joy City.

Exploring history with 3D paintings

Japanese artist lights up Shanghai

Characters, animals and classical scenes from a Taiwan illustrator's picture books assume 3-D form in a public space. Wu Ni reports in Shanghai.

Shanghai's Joy City is hosting the year's largest exhibition of artworks by Jimmy Liao, the acclaimed illustrator from Taiwan who is famous for his romantic and exquisite picture books loved by metropolitan youth.

Characters, animals and classical scenes from his two books, How to Own a Corner and One More Day with You, were put into reality through artists' designs.

At the entrance of Joy City are two rocking horses, one big and one small, decorated with pieces of colorful hand-woven cloth. These "rocking horses in dreams" are designed by artists Nicole Deng from Taiwan and Nial O'Connor, an Irish-born Australian illustrator who is now living in Shanghai, echoing the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year of the Horse in 2014.

The main hall on the third floor has been turned into a large circus with large sculptures of an elephant, giraffe, lion, bear and sea lion greeting visitors. Careful readers of Liao will be happy to find the circus tent, the animals and scenes are exactly the same as in the book.

There is more to explore inside the tent. A dozen large drawings from the two books are displayed on the wall of the tent. Resonating with the exhibition's theme, How to Own a Corner, artists from Taiwan and Sweden created some of the world's secret corners in their minds.

The most extraordinary part in the main tent is the "pry into small worlds" area in which a dozen crystal balls, about 20 centimeters in diameter, shine in the darkness. Inside each crystal ball is a tiny world: a snowy village, a lonely parking lot or a wind-power station. Colorful light beams sweep through the balls and dazzle visitors.