Ju Hong Chen

Art Brokerage: Ju Hong Chen Chinese Artist: b.1941. Born in Shanghai, China before the Cultural Revolution of the 1960's, Ju-Hong Chen was exposed to both traditional and modern art from China and abroad. When the Communist Party took over though, they saw art as strictly a political tool of social control and not a deeply personal expression of the individual artist. During a brief stint as a government publishing house illustrator and cover designer, he found it unbearable having to constantly conceal his real self. Abhorring the idea of trying to fit his own personal vision of art into the designs of others. Eventually he was able to find a job as an art designer in a factory where the political and work pressures were less. As a result, he had spare time to pursue his dreams. Absorbing influences from all places and times, combining eastern and westerns thoughts on music, philosophy, pedagogy, and the avant-garde. In 1983, he moved to the United States, and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife who is a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. Original early paintings wanted.