Gu Wenda 谷文達  (b. 1955)

One of the most regarded artists in the Chinese diaspora, Gu is an alumni of the Shanghai School of Arts, a holder of a Masters of Fine Arts from the China Academy of Art and was trained by classical landscape master Lu Yanshao. By the mid-1980s, Gu was using his technical skills to subvert classical ink art, thus establishing himself as one of the leading figures of the Chinese New Wave art movement. He moved to New York in 1987 to help broaden his horizons. 

Since then, he has been investing in the nature of art and language. He is also known for installations and body art, and for using unusual materials like human hair, blood, semen or sanitary towels in his works. From 1993 to 2004, he installed 21 projects for the United Nations in various countries using human hair and his famed cryptic calligraphy.

Gu is credited with the use of unreadable characters to investigate the power of the written word. In many works, such as the one ECKART ASIA owns, he places these pseudo characters in surreal spaces.