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Stepping into the exhibition hall of Beijing World Art Museum, one might be kindly reminded to keep off the exhibit – The Eternal Game – an installation work of a chess set on which 32 life-sized human statues stand in two opposite camps on a chessboard stretching across the floor.

The left half of the work symbolizes the male part. The blue king, queen, elephants, horses, castles and soldiers, which are painted with blue hint and cool-blooded patterns, transmit a sense of conflict and mercilessness. The right side, with the tone of red, is the female realm. Wearing antlers, covered with feathers, praying to God, ravaged by life, pregnant or handled by fate, these statues represent the source of life and show their frailty at the same time.

The work expounds the meditation of the eternal game of love, conflict, beauty and life. From the visual angle of a woman, it displays the roles of game players and the pressure they receive under the modern life and environment.

The Eternal Game, which was created in 1992, is considered as one of the most creative works in contemporary fine arts history. The installations were inspired by shop window mannequins. The surrealist painting endows the plastic models with value, emotion and energy.

This grand installation set is part of the latest show of 47 works created by American veteran artist Leza Lidow, who is famed for her surrealist style executed on life-size canvas or plastic statues.

Among other works, her oil paintings transmit aesthetic and mysterious atmosphere. Elegant nude bodies of women are covered by gauze curtain in Prisoner of Her Dream and triptich The Spirit of Female. The gracefully clad ladies are sometimes fixed with animals’ heads – dog, cat, ox or sheep – as in Days of March and Cheated by Beauty. A dreamlike scene runs through some works. A rocking chair hangs between a row of withered trees, with a fairy maiden riding on it in The Role of Women. And between two solemn columns leading to heaven, several happy women fly in the air in the work, Wedding Dreams.

The Last Supper expresses the love and generosity women contribute to the world. Clonning shows the different roles that women play in society. Rembrandt, a work with the element from the representative painting of the master, renders the respective of Lidow toward Rembrandt.

Viewers might find the vestige of ancient goddess statues and the art style of such masters as Marcel Duchamp, Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali, and Giorgio de Chirico in Lidow’s works. Combining the elements from ancient times through Renaissance to contemporary art, Lidow presents elegance and philosophical meaning via her creation. Born in China in the early 20th century, Lidow brings her works to her birthplace for the first time.

Location: Beijing World Art Museum, China Millennium Monument, A9 Fuxinglu, Haidian District
Opening hours: 9am-5pm, until Nov 30
Tel: 010-6851-3322

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)