One would not expect to see a Chinese artist presenting in Paris, yet the work of Yang Yongliang is sitting beautifully in the city’s Galerie Paris Beijing.

On display are stunning black and white images of what appears to be cities in chinese bowls. These works are inspired by Song Dynasty paintings and look to be depictions of mountains. However, looking closely we can see that these rock formations are actually formed out of high rise flats and apartments. By making this industrialisation and city life so beautiful, Yongliang is making a mockery of modern day life and a comment on the hard and cold urban life in China today. The cities in front of the ‘mountains’ are taking over nature and contrast the simple images on the bowls in which they are growing from which show peasants and flowers.

Similar images are shown in the next room in the round against black, like the moon. The lights employed in these images look like stars but are the artificial lights used indoors in buildings at night time. Interestingly each of these images contains the moon, potentially commenting on our lack of the interest in the natural in favour of technology and urbanisation.

This stunning display entitled ‘The Silent Valley’ is on display at Galerie Paris Beijing until April 27