The sculptures of animals are among the works on show at artist Shen Shubin's solo exhibition Rebirth on the Road of Pilgrimage at the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In his Hugging series, the painter juxtaposes normally rival animals hugging each other in a show of affection, such as a wolf hugging a goat and a tiger embracing a zebra. In his Tower series, he has animals fight with each other to struggle up a road to reach a summit.

"It's common to see conflicts arise between people. I use the hug between different species to tell people that we should learn to love each other."

"As for the towers, everyone is driven by their desire to climb to a higher class. In fact, their fate is doomed and controlled by an unknown power," explains Shen of his paintings.

In some of his works, he places various animals into specifically-shaped containers, such as a triangle, a star, or a circle, to show that each one remains fettered by the rules of nature.

All these animals are painted onto a huge wasteland, which the artist says is how he imagines the future world.

He can't tell exactly how many hundreds of species appear on his canvases, but Shen is sure of his love for animals. Having owned pets since childhood, he has watched lots of documentaries on them, and visited many natural history museums and zoos－which he refuses to do now because he says he can't bear seeing animals held in captivity.

The painter had a dog when he was a little boy which walked him to school and back home every day. He also raised a white horse then and loved caressing the horse's jaw.

Because of his focus on animals, many organizations ask for his help.

He is currently working with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a US-based animal rights organization, to produce a work on the theme. Shen says he is also considering staging a work of performance art where he paints from a cage while animals outside watch him.

"For me, it's more about just protecting animals. It's about protecting their right to be alive," he adds.

If you go

10 am-5 pm, through Oct 24. 9 North Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-53232111.