It takes a bit of commitment to get to Three Shadows Photography Centre, which, outside Fifth Ring Road, counts as “far outside the city.” And once you arrive, you very well could get lost on the train tracks before finally coming to the main building. But there’s a simple answer to the question of whether it’s worth journeying out there to check out the current exhibition: yes.

On display is an eclectic selection featuring a dozen young Chinese artists nominated for the gallery’s annual photography prize. Three Shadows should be credited for curating from what appears to be a purely artistic — not economic — perspective. To some, they might take this commitment a bit too far: the works featured are not always easily accessible. It may even be harder as a foreigner, as a lot of the art is contextual.

But it’s obvious that over the years, Three Shadows has expanded their traditional showcases — generally very arty, slightly indecipherable and somehow dark — to include more viewer-friendly pieces. The current exhibition, in my opinion, strikes a good balance, likely to interest both art connoisseurs and a less-knowledgeable public.

My two favorite artists:

Works from Chen Canrong shine due to their technical mastery and emphasis on storytelling. His photographs remind me of works by the American painter Edward Hopper. (But he’s far from the first photographer to be inspired by Hopper; Gregory Crewdson and Philip-Lorca diCorcia are two prominent examples.)

The second artist who quite impressed me was Hou Shuai. His black-and-white pictures often take on an epic dimension. His use of negative space (either black or white) also connects to traditional techniques of Chinese painting in an interesting way.

There is much more to discover in the exhibition, and I would strongly encourage all art lovers to check it out. Three Shadows is indeed one of the few institutions in China that’s ahead of the curve in finding this country’s great artistic talents.

Thomas Graziani is the founder of the online art photography gallery Kind of Light.

Tomorrow marks the end of a two-week exhibition at Today Art Museum showcasing Chinese painter Shan Fan and German painter Ingeborg zu Schleswig-Holstein.

The choice of the two artists can at first be startling. Schelswig-Holstein worked for two years as assistant to Andy Warhol, though the pop influence in her work can hardly be felt: it appears more as an attempt to combine the explosive nature of Pollock’s dripping with the deep spirituality of Rothko. Her watercolors are almost uniquely composed of two colors: blue — the color of the sea in front of which she grew up — and red — the color she considers the “color of life,” and which best reflects her introspective quest. (See above.)

Shan Fan benefitted from both Chinese and Western fine art training: born in Hangzhou, he went on to continue his studies at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing before receiving his master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. His work can appear to seem like the exact opposite of Ingeborg’s. Featuring only black and white colors, his paintings appear essentially figurative. Some of his representations of bamboo strictly follow the Chinese canons of oil painting: they’re as inscrutable as Ingeborg’s universe.

However, as we move through the exhibition we realize that these seemingly unrelated ways of approaching art (introspective vs. real) end up overlapping. As Shan Fan strives to grasp the very essence of the bamboo he is depicting, his paintings become abstracts. As Ingeborg’s works are subject to the influence of the many years she spent by the seaside, they become almost figurative: we see waves and storms taking shape on the canvas.

The challenge is therefore successfully tackled: the exhibition shows us that if taken to a certain point, Western introspection and Asian contemplation do lead to a comparable result. As the artist gets deeper into her self, her art starts reflecting the world she lives and lived in. As the artist focuses harder to describe the world he sees, he can’t avoid describing part of his self.

The exhibition ends on Saturday, April 12.

Today Art Museum

 Building 4, Pingguo Shequ, 32 Baiziwan Lu, Chaoyang District
January 12 to February 27
(010) 5876 0600-100

Thomas is the founder of the online art photography gallery Kind of Light – 光有时.