The show features 19 Chinese artists born in the first four decades of New China, and was curated by Beijing-based Wei Xing. He said that the exhibition "attempts to present a multi-layered image of China, and illustrate the country's many portraits through various artworks of different genres and mediums." The curator designed the exhibit "to invite the audience to embark on a rich visual tour of artworks that illustrate the spirit of Chinese people of different generations, representing the dramatic social, economic and cultural transformations that are still underway in China today."

The most fascinating work in the exhibit also took the longest to realize. Artist and Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Art's Miao Xiaochun's mesmerizing computer-generated "RESTART" took two years to realize the 14 minute 3D animation. Dealing with the clash of civilizations in different historical time-frames, it is enticing, beautiful and thought-provoking from start to finish.

Sichuan-born Huang Min's works combine folksy contemporary scenes executed in oil, together with traditional scenic landscape ink painting. Bridging millennia, they shine a light on the vast sweep of Chinese artistic endeavors.

Ma Jun's "Present-Youth" series was created in 1999 at the conclusion of the tumultuous 20th century. The artist was struck by the dramatic societal changes China underwent, and how it can maintain its long time-framed traditional culture on the one hand and developing a dialogue with Western civilization on the other.

Photographs and videos of Qin Ga retrace the Long March, memorializing each site of pilgrimage on the map of China tattooed on his back. The audience is left to ponder whether it is the work that belongs to the artist or the artist who belongs to the work. His work is truly a body of art.

The exhibition was complemented by a discussion on Nov. 27 of China's contemporary art in a global context. The lively discussion featured curator Wei Xing; artists Ma Jun and Qin Ga; and Vienna-based art historian Andrea Neidhöfer.