Painting across borders

Pioneer of China-US art exchange has spent four decades to bridge worlds together, Chang Jun reports in San Francisco.

In the 1980s, Ren Ming, who was then in his 20s, realized the need for dialogue between the East and the West. On his first visit to the United States, he packed more than 3,500 slides of Chinese art, which he later used to introduce his motherland — the mysterious, less discovered, yet multifaceted China.

Four decades later, Ren is an international award-winning artist, with professorships at several esteemed American colleges of fine arts, including the Rhode Island School of Design. He has also organized international programs at top-notch art schools such as the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts.

He still believes that China-US communications through art should be robust, frequent and more revolutionary, a reference to the use of technology such as artificial intelligence.