Chinese artists Qiu Shihua, Wang Chuan, Liang Quan and Yan Shanchun are exhibiting their works at the “Revolve” exhibition at the newly opened Ferris Gallery in Bao’an District.

In a typical painting by Qiu, what first appears as a blank canvas reveals itself to observers as a delicately executed landscape shrouded in layers of pale paint. Requiring sustained gaze to reveal their contents, the works contain natural forms such as tufts of grass, trees and the line of a mountain ridge.

The careful balance between absence and presence in Qiu’s works is in line with his Taoist beliefs, which place importance on the harmonious interaction between opposite forces in the cosmos. To achieve this balance, Qiu first applies the outline of a scene in a dark color before obscuring it with multiple layers of semi-transparent oil paint.

Born in 1940 in Sichuan Province, Qiu completed his training in oil painting at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in 1962. Travel has been markedly impactful on Qiu’s style. In 1988, he went to the Gobi Desert, which influenced the development of his vast, open scenes. After traveling to Europe in the early 1990s, Qiu began moving away from the traditional Chinese landscape painting style to embrace new aesthetic approaches. This shift was most distinct in his decision to use oil paint over ink or aquarelle, along with his intentional obscuring of the scenes.

Born in 1953 and graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Wang described his early interest in abstract art as an obsession that bordered on the sadistic, and referred to his struggle between art and life as a solitary and searching journey. In recent years, Wang’s works have truly become the records of a meditative life.

No other contemporary Chinese artist pushes the limits of traditional Chinese painting media more than Liang. He employs the traditional materials associated with Chinese painting to create works that are anything but traditional. He takes the notion of “void” in historical Chinese literati painting and advances it to a new level of pure abstraction. In some of his works Liang creates elaborate overlapping collages from strips of rice paper and then adds color and ink to the surface.

Born in Shanghai in 1948, Liang graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. His works have been widely acquired by art museums and institutions at home and abroad including the National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, Zhejiang Art Museum, Guangdong Art Museum, the British Museum, M+ Museum, LV Foundation and the Neue National Gallery.

Yan graduated from the China Academy of Art in 1982, specializing in printmaking. He was trained in traditional Chinese calligraphy and influenced by Western abstract painting. He was raised in Hangzhou, a city that has inspired famous poets, scholars and artists since the ninth century. Yan spent many hours painting and sketching by West Lake, and its landscape has become an essential element in his paintings.

For Yan, West Lake has become an unforgettable memory, a landscape that he paints instinctively. Yan’s paintings of quietly intimate scenes of West Lake foreground the artist’s distinctive painting language: He uses a gently monochromatic palette to create luminous, semi-abstract works that focus the viewers’ gaze on small scenes within nature. While the contemplative feel of his works and their gentle tonalities speak to classical Chinese landscape art, he uses his own blend of mixed media to create these effects, including ink, tea and mineral pigments on a gesso canvas surface. Yan’s delicate imagery seems to intimate the life force breathing with a gentle rhythm as it prepares to enter into hibernation; and the mind also feels at rest in its contemplation.

Dates: Until Oct. 28

Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m., closed Mondays and Sundays

Booking: WeChat account “ferrisgallery”

Venue: Ferris Gallery, 603, Block A, The Ocean Mansion, Bao’an District (宝安区海府一号A栋603摩天轮画廊)

Metro: Line 5 to Baohua Station (宝华站), Exit A2(SD News)