When the Hong Kong-born, Shanghai-based artist and designer, Simon Ma (Ma Xingwen) was invited by the Italian Consulate General in Shanghai to create a solo art exhibition about the interaction between Chinese and Italian cultures, two images popped into his head. "The dragon and the horse," Ma said. "The dragon represents China, and the horse represents Italy."

Ma told the Global Times: "Dragons probably never existed, but they are a very concrete image within Chinese culture, so much so that we call ourselves 'descendants of the dragon.' And a 'spirit of chivalry' has always run through the history of Europe, especially in Italy."

However, Ma pointed out that neither animal will appear in the exhibition - or certainly not in the forms most people would recognize.  

Hybrid animal

"I have merged these two images into one animal so that the head resembles that of a dragon and the body is similar to that of a horse," he said. "Like many images of horses, the animal is stood rampant with its front legs raised. In my own understanding, the dragon stands for a kind of enterprising outlook, while the horse symbolizes lasting vitality. I call the work, Longma (dragon and horse), and the exhibition is called, The Soul Drago + Cavallo (drago and cavallo meaning dragon and horse in Italian)." 

Ma himself is also a mix of Eastern and Western cultures. He spent his childhood learning the art of traditional Chinese painting in Hong Kong under the tutelage of Fan Tzu-teng. Fan is considered one of China's leading artists and teachers, and was responsible for giving Ma a basic foundation in art. When Ma was 13 years old, he moved to London where he started experimenting in Western art and design, and then attended the University College of London, majoring in architecture and urban planning. After obtaining his master's degree, Ma headed to Shanghai where he opened his own studio, M.House (115, Jiangxi Road Middle) in 2002, where he got involved in original art and design projects.

Ma believes that his personal experience and cultural background was the main reason he was approached for this exhibition. The exhibition opened at the former Italy Pavilion (used during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai) on July 9. "I've also used the image of the two Chinese characters that make up longma in each of the artworks in the exhibition," he added.

Four-character terms

For the show, Ma has created 33 small, traditional Chinese ink paintings and calligraphy works all inspired by a series of Chinese, four-character idioms. All of these idioms contain the character of ma (horse) or long (dragon). So in order to illustrate the Chinese idiom, laoma shitu (an old hand is a good guide), Ma repeatedly wrote the Chinese character of ma until the many characters formed what looks like a long road on the paper. In another painting to depict the term, tianma xingkong (which describes a powerful and unconstrained style), Ma has depicted an ancient Chinese story in which Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) made great efforts to seek out a good horse. However, the resultant picture is transformed into what resembles a geographical outline of Italy.

There are also two works which are nearly nine meters wide. In one, Ma has drawn an image of a dragon using the Chinese character ma, while conversely in the other, he has depicted a horse by means of the character for long.

Besides examples of traditional Chinese ink paintings, calligraphy, and seal cuttings, there are also acrylic paintings, lacquer paintings, sculptures and installation artworks on show.

Date: Until August 8, 9 am to 5 pm

Venue: The Shanghai Italian Center (the former Italy Pavilion) 上海意大利中心（原意大利馆）

Address: Expo Avenue, near Shanggang Road 世博大道,靠近上钢路

Tickets: 60 yuan each person, 45 yuan for group

Call 6381-7878 for more details