Art beat in January

Pan's exhibition

Contemporary artist Pan Lusheng is featured at the China Art Museum Shanghai. The 52-year-old from Shandong province has studied China's folk art and handicrafts for more than 30 years, and founded the China Museum of Folk Art. His creation has been inspired by China's traditional and folk art. About 200 pieces are on display. The museum will invite visitors to try their hands at traditional Chinese wood-print making and creating their own ceramics, to get a complete sense of the artist's work.

9 am-5 pm, until Feb 28. China Art Museum Shanghai, 205 Shangnan Lu (Road), Pudong New Area, Shanghai. 400-921-9021.

Japanese artists

Two young artists from Japan, Yuko Murata and Fumito Urabe, will stage an exhibition at James Cohan Gallery from this Saturday. Murata's paintings feature distinctive motifs of animals and landscapes. On display will be her recent paintings of birds, leafless trees, squirrels and other meek and mild creatures, who rule over the deceptive powers of innocence. Urabe's exhibition A Passage of Ancient Red Rice suggests a historical journey. Using found or discarded materials, Urabe constructs small boats out of bits of driftwood and creates map-like mixed media works on paper of imaginary islands drawn with mineral pigments. Featured in this exhibition will be two of Urabe's small-scale dioramas of shanties accompanied by miniature ceramic pots.

Tue-Sat, 10 am-6 pm, Sun 12-6 pm, and Monday by appointment, Jan 11-Mar 2. James Cohan Gallery Shanghai, 1F, Building 1, 170 Yueyang Lu (Road) Shanghai. 021-5466-0825.

Art of the ordinary

Bird Head is an artistic project initiated by Song Tao and Ji Weiyu in 2004. The two artists live like any other young men in Shanghai, except they take snapshots along the way and hand-print them. These seemingly trivial images intrigue viewers, as if the chaos and details of their lives are of particular significance. About a dozen of their photographs are now on show at the art space above the Bottega Veneta shop in Yifeng Galleria. Elaborately bound in fine leather, silk and redwood, and carefully arranged according to the connection between each picture, these casual images are seeped in deeper meanings, according to professor Gu Zheng, a scholar of photography and curator of the show.

10 am-10 pm, Jan 6-Mar 6. 1F, Yifeng Galleria, 99 Beijingdong Lu (Road), Shanghai. 021-5306-7650.