Same craft but different path

Edie Xu follows her parents' footsteps. [Photo provided to China Daily]

She has a chic appearance with flared jeans and a choker. Edie Xu may only be 16, but she's confident about the concepts and ideas behind her recent artworks－several paintings and sculptures, plus an installation, on show at Beijing's Gauguin Gallery.

She was born into a family of artists. Her father, Xu Bing, is one of the country's most-famous artists. Her mother, Cai Jin, is an oil painter known for using vibrant colors.

"I don't want people to know me because of my parents' reputation," Edie Xu insists.

"My style is different."

She says the figure sculptures in which she sketches distortions of her own face on pumpkins are inspired by Irish painter Francis Bacon's grotesque depictions.

Her small installation takes inspiration from US artist Alexander Calder. A thin twisted iron wire casts a shadow on the wall that overlaps with an identical drawing.

It's her fourth public show. The previous two, in 2013 and '14, were staged with her mother.

Her parents attended her ongoing show's opening day in January.

Her father snapped smartphone photos.