It is immediately evident from White Gallery’s Double Take exhibition of contemporary Chinese art, currently on show in Sydney, that Chinese artists are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to produce works of art that are both visually spectacular and thought provoking.

Using what seems to be a level of patience and skill that sets them way above their western counterparts, Chinese artists such as Ai Weiwei, Tu Wei-Cheng, Shi Jindian and Gao Rong create amazing works of art that have to be seen several times over to be believed.

Gallery director Paris Neilson says the works in Double Take celebrate the hidden beauties and unnoticed potential that second looks uncover. "The works we've chosen all have this wonderfully fresh perspective, and there's a sort of thrill running beneath it, of finding wonder in such familiar things.”

From Shi Jindian’s mind-bending crocheted jeep chassis, to Tu Wei-Cheng’s chocolate shop installation, which features a range of chocolates moulded in the shape of different military equipment from guns to tanks, all the works featured in the Double Take exhibition cause viewers to question the “truth” of what they are seeing.

"Chinese contemporary artists are extraordinarily creative, and they have the skill and patience to bring off even the most way-out ideas," says White Rabbit gallery owner Judith Neilsen. “China has discovered individualism, but it still has that deep connection with tradition. That's what makes the work so interesting. Before 2000 the artists were getting politics out of their system, but now they are just doing whatever they like."

Far from being the sort of clichéd pop-culture products or characterless objects that the artists who produced the works of art in the show risked creating, the creative double-takes featured in the exhibition are obviously the result of deep thought and contemplation that has not been discarded in favour of an approach that aims to merely entertain.

Although the level of perfection evident in the works on display is usually the product of consumer oriented mass-production, there is an overwhelming sense of connection with both artist and culture that permeates throughout each of the amazing offerings. To produce such incredible illusions that are not compromised by an obsession with presenting an object that is “perfect” shows just how devoted these artists are to their craft.