He Neng graduated from art school in his native China in 1965, right at the start the Cultural Revolution. From 1966 to 1976, the Chinese were put through an immense repression of ideas that were believed to have Western influence. Intellectuals and artists were often reassigned to agricultural communes and even sent to prison. When Mao Zedong died, the Cultural Revolution essentially died with him. What was next to come was a new kind of revolution - a Chinese renaissance in art. A great deal of that renaissance was headed by a group of artists from the Yunnan School of Art which He Neng was a part of. He creates paintings that capture the Yunnan style, with an infusion of traditional Chinese elements with modern expressionism. Some of his work contains clear references to Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Joan Miro. He, Neng has held more than 100 successful gallery and museum exhibitions in America, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. His works are collected by art collectors worldwide are in the Library of Congress. He is considered to be one of the three most celebrated contemporary Chinese artists today.