Li Huayi, born in 1948 in Shanghai, was raised in China where he learned antique drawing and painting techniques from the age of six. He was still a teenager when he became a "worker artist" during the Cultural Revolution, drawing mainly propaganda posters. He later discovered the paintings of the Song Dynasty and studied their techniques. He moved to San Francisco in 1982, where he received his M.F.A. at the Academy of Art.
Kuiyi Shen is Professor of Art History, Theory & Criticism at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese art.
