Gallery owner Hai-Ou Hou selected about 60 pieces from the more than 200 entries submitted by artists from around the world. Most have never exhibited in Baltimore, so the show offers an opportunity to see a different crop of contemporary artists and how they are coping with the materials and themes of the present moment in all media.

One of show's most adventurous pieces is an installation/video projection by LiQin Tan, an assistant professor of computer animation and graphics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Tan's piece consists of an irregular, sculptural screen made of wood, metal and rawhide, on which he projects two separate video animations superimposed on top of one another. The first animation depicts a woman dancing, the second a man running.

The effect is a high-tech but quite recognizable version of some primeval forest scene, or perhaps the Garden of Eden.

Tan describes his work as "digital primitive," a reference to his works' marriage of state-of-the-art technology and fabricated objects that mimic the appearance of bone, tree bark and animal skins. The installation projection runs continuously during the exhibition.

There's also an intriguing suite of very professional-looking video animations by four graphic artists -- Shaun B. Jennings, Alicia Barett, Charles Lotierzo and Michael William Kirby -- whose fanciful and inventive efforts are on display on a separate monitor.

Other highlights include Meredith Hedges' accomplished graphite drawings of broken dolls, Chuck Sehman's clever mixed-media assemblages and local photographer David Valle's atmospheric digital collages of Baltimore landmarks.

The show runs through Nov. 27. The gallery is at 523 N. Charles St. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Call 410-230-0561.