The Song Dynasty is perhaps a historical milestone before the magnificence of Chinese classical spirit faded into secularism. Its dramatic social and mental transformation provides an intriguing frame of reference for contemporary Chinese artists. Different from well-known conceptual photography artist Hong Lei's intensely tragic scenes are Yang Tao's Song Dynasty classical paintings which intrude in a frolicsome way with black humor. Inspired by Song Dynasty emperor/artist Zhao Ji's famous painting (which depicts cranes soaring above the splendid palace in BianLiang, then the capital city), Yang's swordsmen jump onto the palace roof, flushing cranes out of the sky. In other pieces, Yang rests in the heart of a lotus holding a blood-splattered sword, or plants himself on a branch; with half-opened eyes, he can hardly fall asleep. Yang Tao's swordsman is a pursuer of Zen and at the heart of inescapable hurricanes, he tries to hold a piece of foliage from Song Dynasty.

Female artist Yu Hang concentrates on photography featuring the female body in traditional settings. Her earlier works Beauty with Sword took inspiration from Chinese heroines Mu GuiYing and Yu Ji etc. In the new works, these solemn and dignified figures give way to mundane girls in Ming and Qing Dynasties' fiction; classicism is replaced by secularity. While indulging themselves naked in a private, liberating moment in front of mirror, the girls also willingly present themselves to a male's gaze from behind the mirror.

Today's fashion and cosmetology indicate a mentality of treating body as an object, as an effective tool pursuing social status. Yu Hang's message is very much relevant today, her works not only captures fantasized imagination from traditional literature, but also illusions of cosplay game in a modern girls' dormitory. By these works, artist Yu Hang explores how female perceive their bodies in a male-dominated social mentality. She also tries to construct a cultural and mental map, examining the fact that our traditionary culture imprints our obsession and fantasy on the female body.

The works visually comply with classical Chinese aesthetics, allowing the conceptual subtlety beneath unleashes itself. Media include acrylic, photography and silkscreen prints.