Once upon a time, and not so long ago, nearly every Chinese used a porcelain mug. Now some are collectibles and they evoke "red memory."

Painter Wang Chaobin paints these mugs on his canvases exhibited at the recently opened Don Gallery. Some bear slogans, some the name of a person's employer or work unit.

Wang's simple grayish mugs evoke some nostalgia for a simpler era when material things were relatively scarce and, some say, spiritual life was richer.

Born in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in 1965, Wang graduated in oil painting from the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts and now teaches there.

Ai Lin, born in Sichuan Province in 1970, also teaches at the Hubei institute where he is a post-graduate student.

Ai's oil paintings depict all kinds of people of different ages, nationalities and occupations. Each canvas is filled with portraits of people in moments of joy, pain, confusion and rage. They are the people we see every day.

Date: through February 12, 11am-5pm
Address: 1863 Huaihai Rd M., Shanghai
Tel: 8621-6473-1533

(Shanghai Daily February 2, 2008)