Though aficionados flock to 798 to view works from the latest names in contemporary Chinese art, checking out unknown talent often reveals hidden gems.

F2 Gallery is showcasing recent graduates of Hangzhou’s Academy of Art, an institute known for its encouragement of the adventurous and the avante-garde. Pieces from 10 artists have been selected not for unity of vision, but for a shared boldness and dexterity in their chosen media.

Sun Huiyuan lays migrant workers’ shoes in neat rows in “The Left Shoes,” each left-footed one cut open to reveal a rough plaster mould of its canvas form. The efforts of hundreds of weary feet are immortalized in a material that dominates their very practice.

The work of painter Zhou Yilun is more abrasive, exploring the ever-popular paradox of beauty and the beast. Two leggy escorts proffer themselves toward the viewer in “Just Love Between Us.” Their painted fingernails caress a grotesque, roaring gorilla as it grasps their fleshy legs. Zhou’s rash-like attack of paint strips it of all pretense and affection.

The stand-out piece is Jiang Zhi’s video work “Five Rays of Light.” At once haunting and uplifting, the piece shows people alone in a barren and hazy urban landscape lit by beams of light. A beautiful hybrid of photography and new media, it illuminates the ever-changing social boundaries of individuals in an uncertain environment.

Whether or not the show captures “the undercurrent of the next generation of Chinese contemporary art,” as advertised, it does showcase a refreshingly new band of artists not shy of the rough edges.

Sophie McKinnon

Where: F2 Gallery

When: Through Nov. 9