The inaugural exhibition of Shanghai Jia Art, titled "Culture in Focus," has opened in Putuo District. Running until September 30, the exhibition is open to the public via reservation through the Jia Art mini-program.
Located adjacent to Suzhou Creek and rooted in the core area of Changfeng Ecological Business District, Jia Art forms a new urban cultural tourism route together with Changfeng Park and the Half Marathon Suzhou Creek Park, offering a combined experience of "exhibition, park stroll, and riverside leisure."
The venue was designed by a team led by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster. The architecture mimics the growth of flowers and leaf veins extending from the ground to the sky, blossoming into petal-like facades that embody an "inside-out" structural aesthetic.
Covering a total floor area of approximately 5,000 square meters, the museum features a north-south dual-core layout and houses professional-grade art galleries, a digital exhibition hall, a cultural and creative store, and an art salon.
As Putuo District’s first comprehensive high-end art exhibition covering an entire historical period, "Culture in Focus" traces the trajectory of Chinese art over three millennia, from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC-771 BC) to the present day. The exhibition is organized into three parallel sections: "The Huaxia Legacy," "Bridge East and West," and "Faces of the Times."
The exhibition brings together numerous national treasures and masterpieces. In "The Huaxia Legacy," visitors can marvel at oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang Dynasty (around 1600 BC-1046 BC) and the bronze Xi Jia plate from the fifth year of King Xuan's reign during the Western Zhou Dynasty.
"Bridge East and West" focuses on the introduction of Western painting to China since the Republican era, vividly capturing the fusion of Western media and Eastern poetics. A highlight is Liu Haisu’s “Suzhou Creek,” a seminal work depicting Shanghai by the founder of modern Chinese art education.
"Faces of the Times" features dozens of contemporary portrait oil paintings from both Chinese and international artists, including Chen Yifei's “Flutist,” Zeng Fanzhi's “Doctor,” and Yayoi Kusama's “Girl,” showcasing the diverse landscape of contemporary art.
