Shao Fan's solo exhibition, You, features such artworks as Rabbit Mountain, Old Ape in the Ravine  and furniture designs at Suzhou Museum. [PHOTO BY SATARUPA BHATTACHARJYA/CHINA DAILY]

In his repertoire of ink paintings, Shao revisits animal motifs-often placing a rabbit or an ape at the center of a painting-and depicts them in magnified sizes. They stand as firmly as mountains and sometimes look straight at the audience.

"My approach to painting rabbits and apes is not complicated. I simply focus on detailing their fur to present a life-like texture," Shao says. "This repetition has generated meaning and a sense of relief for me over time."

Shao renders the rabbit-he raises and observes dozens of them at home-a spiritual totem that allows people to re-examine their relationships with their surroundings. He personifies the ape to look like an old man deep in meditation, reflecting on people's mentality as they age.