Fresh graduates from the Central Academy of Fine Arts present the best of their work at a recent graduation exhibition. Their pieces vary in media and genres, from installations, oil paintings and Chinese ink art to picture books.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Only a start

An artist's confidence, however, needs to pass the viewers' test.

The first test for art graduates these days is the graduation exhibition.

Over the last decade, leading fine arts colleges like Wang's alma mater and the Central Academy of Fine Arts inBeijinghave turned graduation exhibitions into a carnival for dealers, critics, collectors and ordinary viewers.

Wang says viewers wait in long lines to see the graduation shows, and their taste is both international and diverse.

She feels that more people now accept abstract art than they did a decade ago.

"They don't ask questions like 'What exactly did you paint'. They say, 'I like your paintings. They look great'."

She says the average price for oil paintings at the show, set by the school, was 20,000 yuan ($2,900) per square meter.

She sold three abstract works at the show and so did many students from the painting department.