SHEN SHAOMIN'S BONE sculptures are mesmerising, if slightly disconcerting. They resemble larger-than-life prehistoric beasts, but you won't find these menacing creatures with teeth the size of fingers or metre-long stingers in any natural history museum anywhere in the world.
The sculptures and accompanying photographs occupy two large, windowless rooms in Osage Contemporary Art Space, the city's newest and largest commercial contemporary art space. The low lighting and silence make the works seem even more macabre.
Titled Scary Monsters, the show explores science gone horribly wrong, with advancements in genetic engineering, biotechnology and cybernetics irreversibly transforming animals and humans for the worse.
'The sculptures make you think about our world, how artificial it's becoming,' says Shen. 'Science and artificial elements are influencing plants, animals, human beings, the city and our living environment. We are not growing naturally, human beings are becoming more removed from nature.'
Shen illustrates a future with horrific consequences for today's scientific and consumer 'innovations'.
The exhibition is the culmination of three years' work by the 50-year-old artist from Heilongjiang province in northern China. Shen's art has been shown in galleries and museums including Museum Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf, Shanghai's Dolun Art Museum and the Fine Arts Museum of Bern in Switzerland.