Jia Wei Shen was born in 1948 in Shanghai, China. Art Schools were closed during the period of the Cultural Revolution, so Shen was largely self-taught and by the mid 70’s his artistic ability was recognised. One of his works from this era, ‘Standing Guard for Our Great Motherland’ (1974) appeared in the China: 5000 Years exhibition in 1998 at the Guggenheim Museum in both New York and Bilbao. Jia Wei studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing from 1982 to 1984 and became acclaimed as a history painter. His works are represented in the top public collections including the National Art Gallery of China and the Museum of the Chines e Revolution, both in Beijing. He has won five prizes in the National Art Exhibitions including first prize. Jia Wei moved to Australia in 1989 and for the first two years had to support himself financially by drawing portrait sketches for tourists at Darling Harbour. He looked on this experience as an opportunity to research portraiture and since then he has completed many accomplished portrait commissions in Australia and overseas