A Chinese wash painting that looks like a GPS map and an enormous wooden tank with smoke coming out of the barrel are among the works that Hong Kong artists brought to London.

An exhibition named Hong Kong Eye brought together some 30 contemporary art works by 18 budding artists to the Saatchi Gallery, which will run from Wednesday to January 12 next year.

"This is the first major collective show of contemporary Hong Kong art in the UK," said Chang Tsong-Zung, curator of the exhibition.

"It shows the humor of Hong Kong artists and their bond to the Chinese tradition," he said.

The biggest single piece at the exhibition was a life-size wooden tank designed by visual artist Amy Cheung.

"She is a mother of a 6-year-old boy and this big toy could meet the desire of the kid as a conqueror," Chang said.

Cheung told Xinhua that the inspiration dawned upon her during a visit to the Vietnam War Museum. "I was impressed by images of mass destruction of war," she said.

Inside the tank she installed three screens modelling the exhibition hall. By pulling a handle, one could fire at each piece of artwork there, with flame appearing on the screen and smoke coming out of the tank.

After the destruction, a sad song played at the war museum resonates inside the tank. She said, "One can reflect on the destruction and ask why do we have violence?"

Leung Kui-Ting, 67, spent four months to complete his scroll painting. "The technique was traditional Chinese while I added some modern elements into the picture," he said. Now it looks like a GPS map.

"Hong Kong has a special relationship with the Western world and Hong Kong artists tend to combine Chinese and Western art together so as to find their own path," he said.