The figures are pink, mainly faceless, dismembered men in various degrees of pudginess, each sporting an orange dunce cap while standing on a raised red platform against a stark grey stage.
They seem to be part of a grotesque performance but have been frozen in action in a still from a Flash computer animation work called Opera. The satirical image was conjured up by multimedia artist Wu Junyong, 31, from Fujian, and, according to Artnet.com, a digital print of it can be yours for around US$2,000.
The price tag is a tiny fraction of the record-setting US$9.7 million that Zeng Fanzhi's Mask Series 1996 No 6 fetched in May last year at a Christies' Asian Art Evening Sale in Hong Kong, and the best-selling names in mainland art are still undoubtedly oil and ink painters.
But Wu is one of a new band of mainland artists attracting attention for their experiments with newer technology, and who some consider to have strong prospects in the field of art investment.
Fabien Fryns is director of the F2 Gallery in the emerging Beijing creative enclave of Caochangdi, a short walk from the madding crowds of the capital's 798 art district. Despite the fallout from the global financial crisis, Fryns is upbeat on the potential this crop of artists has to offer.
'The great thing with the crisis is that the pressure is off ... artists have again the time to explore new directions and take their time to produce top-quality original works,' he said.