Traditional Chinese art underwent a revolution of its own in the mid-20th century, as the new political regime expected artists to glorify its communist ideology. A more gradual change happened in the late 20th century, as artists were allowed more individual expression in both subject matter and style.

Although they didn't have complete freedom by Western standards, at least they could paint subjects other than Chairman Mao.

You can sense that post-Mao artistic environment in an exhibit at Towson University's Asian Arts Gallery. "Realized in Wood: Contemporary Prints from China" only features three printmakers from a single region, but the show modestly suggests the larger changes going on.

For a blunt reminder of how communist propaganda amounted to a state religion, have a look at Dong Jiansheng's "Memorial to Zhou Enlai" (1978). This tribute to the late leader has several people standing in front of a lofty flag pole and behind a wreath that incorporates a communist hammer-and-sickle design. The print adheres to the so-called Socialist Realism style, in which these generic-looking mourners strike heroic poses and shed so many tears that you want to supply a bucket.

Now look at another print done by the same artist more than 20 years later. "Love for the Mountain" (1999) depicts small, tile-roofed houses hugging the side of a steep mountain. The near-fusion of architecture and landscape actually owes more to traditional Chinese landscape art than to Socialist Realism, but some of the more expressive touches also can be seen as reflecting the Western tendency to encourage artists to subjectively respond to landscape subjects.

It's difficult to generalize when only three artists are showcased, but you can appreciate how they're influenced by both traditional and contemporary approaches.

In any event, the most impressive of these artists is Li Yanpeng. In "The Sound of Threshing" (1999), a few agricultural workers standing atop a hill in the background overlook a village whose modest houses are so low to the ground that they seem rooted in it.

Also clinging to the hilly landscape are the animals in "Slope Covered With Goats" (1999). Indeed, the hills are so craggy in the Hebei province of northern China that these and similar prints convey what must be a struggle to survive amidst such rugged beauty.

Li Yanpeng and Dong Jiansheng practice a kind of poetic realism in depicting that landscape, but the landscape and everything within it seem to exist only in the imagination of Zhang Minjie. There are rolling fields and even a figure on horseback in "Leaping" (1992), but this sparely rendered landscape is overwhelmed with numerous identically dressed figures leaping into the air in what you're free to interpret as a martial arts exercise, boisterously athletic form of dance, or spiritual ritual of some sort.

Equally enigmatic is "Games I (Helicopter)" (2001), in which a crowd gathers around a helicopter; there also are large beetle-like insects floating around.

In "Games II (Swing)" (2001), a tightly packed crowd rides on a swing and many others fly through the air as if ejected from that swing. And in "Turning I (Maze)" (2001), the nearly identical human figures characterizing this artist's work move in orderly lines through a maze.

Whether Zhang Minjie is criticizing conformist behavior is open to debate, but there's little doubt that such surreal images are a long way from Socialist Realism.

"Realized in Wood: Contemporary Prints from China" runs through May 16 at Towson University's Asian Arts Gallery, in the Center for the Arts at Osler and Cross Campus drives. Call 410-704-2807 or go to www.towson.edu/asianarts.

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