N obsession with Shanghai has been deeply rooted in my heart ever since I became lost in its busy commercial street of Nanjing Lu as a teenager in the 1960s," said painter Xu Jiang, who was born in East China's Fujian Province, situated over 1,000 kilometres from Shanghai.

"Walking through the city, I felt as if I was walking in the mountains. I looked at the city over and over again from elevated positions. What I saw was not the present city, but its past. And such distances of space and time lying between me and the city's own 'existence' provided a special perspective," Xu wrote in his book of collected paintings called "Shanghai Mirage".

City obsession

The 49-year-old oil painter, who is now president of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts based in Hangzhou, capital of neighbouring Zhejiang Province, has maintained a special feeling for the international city, one that has inspired him to create a series of works portraying the city's history and "presence".

Xu liked to walk randomly and aimlessly through the streets of the city as he described "talking to the city and witnessing the city's history."

"Before drawing a mountain, the ancient Chinese painters climbed the mountain and observed their object from various angles and dozens of times. So when they started to draw the object, they already had the whole mountain in their hearts," said Xu.

One of Xu's representative works - "Shanghai Mirage" - is displayed in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai. Created in 2001, the painting is huge, 11.3 metres in length and 4.55 metres in width.

But its enormity is more than just a matter of size, it also reflects the scope of space and history addressed. The dense forest of buildings of both sides of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the old bell tower, the bridge across Suzhou Creek - all these are combined to create a single magnificent vision of Shanghai.

Weight of history

Looking at Xu's painting, one can feel the immense weight of the city's history as well as the painter's understanding of this rapidly changing city.

Since the mid-1980s, when Xu started to compose his metropolitan series with Shanghai - of course - as the focus, he has built up an extensive collection of historical statistics about the city, gathered from libraries, old bookstores and other sources.

"Few people know that today's Yan'an elevated road used to be a river called 'Yangjing Bang'," said Xu.

"Such knowledge helps me to grasp the city more accurately."

Graduating from the Oil Painting Department of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in 1982, Xu studied in the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts in Germany for two years and held a series of major exhibitions in China, Germany, the US and other countries.

He was also invited to take part in major exhibitions such as the Sao Paul International Bienniale in Brazil and the 14th Asia International Art Exhibition held in Japan.

Apart from his achievements in painting, Xu also writes poems which complement his visual work.

Public art

Xu also serves as the main curator for the Shanghai Biennale, one of the city's and China's major art events. This year's Biennale, entitled "Techniques of the Visible", will be held in the autumn.

"We have entered into the era of images, with the fast development of technologies and devices such as digital cameras and vedio recorders. But people's understanding of images has gradually declined. People are too dependent on visual or visible images while their ability to see the essence has degenerated," Xu said, explaining the theme of this year's event.

"Through this event, we want to reveal how the techniques of the visible influence human existence and then discuss how such techniques could be developed in a more humane way," Xu added.

The Shanghai Biennale has provided a platform where international artists can explore experimental art forms and display their creative ideas.

As for this year's event, an artist from Taiwan has suggested setting up neon lights on the top of the Shanghai Museum to mark its original height, since the historic building has sunk 1.7 metres during the past 80 years.

"By September 28, we will also have built a corridor in People's Park beside the museum with a depth of 1.7 metres, situated in the very centre of Shanghai. So walking in the corridor, ones will feel as if walking at the city's height 80 years ago," said Xu.

Xu admitted that such a pioneering art event may be a bit far from the concerns of ordinary people, but he believed that new art forms would challenge the public's traditional concepts and change their frozen understanding of the arts.

He agreed that public art such as the city's sculptures should be rooted in the community, reflecting residents' daily lives and building a connection with the city's history.

"In certain old cities, a well or a wall could trigger the same sort of memories among residents that public art could revive in a modern metropolis like Shanghai," Xu said.

"For example, in old streets, we can create sculptures consisting of dozens of beds exposed in the sunshine, a common scene full of life from our childhoods, which we can occasionally see even now."

But the premise for excellent public art works is good city planning. "Artistic works don't have the magic to turn stones into gold, but they can make something good even better. Without proper city planning, even excellent art works cannot achieve good results," Xu said.