(Above: Father and Son Suona Players, by Chinese artist Miao Huixin, is one of the works now on display at the White Lotus Gallery)

By Randi Bjornstad

At first glance, it doesn’t look like a work of Chinese art, but Father and Son Suona Players — the instrument with its many cultural variations also is commonly referred to as shawm — is the work of Chinese artist Miao Huixin (me yow hwee shin), who was born in 1955, seven years after the Chinese Communist Revolution began and 11 years old at the start of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution.

The painting is part of a show called simply, Highlights from the Gallery Collection.

The White Lotus Gallery exhibit includes a classic print titled Serving Tea, by 19th-century Japanese artist Eisen Tomioka

The exhibit features work ranging from mezzotint to gouache to water-based woodblock prints by both Japanese and Chinese artists, among them two other Miao works, Buddha’s Kingdom and A Night in Summer.

The Japanese prints represent woodblock art from the 19th and 20th centuries, “allowing visitors to compare and contrast the variety in styles and subject matters,” White Lotus Gallery owner Hue-Ping Lin said.

As for Miao, the artist grew up in the peasant class in China, working alongside his father on the family farm, but he is a self-taught artist who has gained widespread acclaim in the international arts community, Lin said.

“He was here for a one-person show in 1997,” Lin said. “And the next year, he was chosen as one of 10 Chinese artists to help the Nokia company launch its new cellphone in China. Because we knew him, he returned here to be photographed for that campaign, and he spent nearly three months here.”

The photographs for Nokia that featured Miao may look like China, Lin says with a laugh, “but they were taken by the Willamette River near Valley River Center.”

Because of White Lotus’ long association with Miao, the gallery has quite a collection of works representing the apex of his career, she said. The gallery specializes in Chinese and Japanese painting, Japanese prints, and work by fine artists from the Pacific Northwest region.

When: Through Aug. 31

Where: White Lotus Gallery, 767 Willamette St., Eugene

Gallery Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

Information: 541-345-3276 or wlotus.com

Jun’ichiro Sekino’s woodblock print, Sessho-seki (Field Horse), is part of the White Lotus Gallery’s show