Since 1999, Bao LeDe and his wife, Dian Tong, have offered a fascinating glimpse into the exotic realm of Chinese art at Tao Water gallery. Nestled into a corner of the landscape on Route 6A in Barnstable, the gallery is easily identified by its cranberry-red door. This bright entrance leads you into a contemporary building with two floors, featuring an eclectic collection of traditional and contemporary art, including landscape, abstract, and figurative paintings, and Chinese ink-on-rice-paper drawings. The open airy feeling in the galleries is the perfect backdrop for the intriguing scope and variety of Tao Water's Chinese art.

Tao Water also has a Provincetown gallery called Tao Water Art Gallery II, which opened in 2007 featuring contemporary Chinese Art.

Several Chinese artists are represented at the Barnstable gallery. According to LeDe, gallery co-owner and director, many Tao Water artists have exhibited their art at international museums and galleries. LeDe has several paintings on exhibit at Tao Water.

Mostly influenced by traditional Chinese calligraphy, LeDe's paintings are colorful landscapes and bold abstracts of the male and female form. He uses an interesting method, gluing rice paper onto the canvas layer by layer and then painting over the layers. LeDe notes that the big brush strokes in the paintings allow the art to "flow freely." Visitors to Tao Water can see LeDe's exotic work as well as many paintings by other Chinese artists. -- Libby Bouck

Tao Water Art Gallery, 1989 Route 6A, West Barnstable, 508-375-0428; Tao Water II, 352 Commercial Street, Provincetown, 508-487-8880; www.taowatergallery.com.

Libby Bouck is an editorial intern at Cape Cod Life Publications.