Xu Jianguo’s solid foundation in traditional Chinese painting gained through university and private study, combined with an abiding interest in worldwide arts and culture and a distinctively creative and searching mind, has led to his unique world of “poetic cityscapes,” or “urban landscapes. Done with exacting precision with traditional Chinese brush, ink, and silk and in an equally traditional round-fan format, Xu brings the contemporary international world into view through the lens of Chinese traditional art. The famed television tower in Berlin, the Berlin Dom—the city’s baroque cathedral, and the modernistic steel and glass museum building known are the Humboldt Box, are drawn in Xu’s usual delicate linear style, softened by the atmospheric blurring of background structures through a sensitive use of ink wash. Xu was born in Shanghai in 1951 and as a child received instruction in traditional Chinese panting and calligraphy and matriculated at the Shanghai Theatre Academy with a major in art, continuing his studies at Bard College with a Master of Fine Arts degree awarded in 1987. Xu has exhibited in Mainland China and Hong Kong, Taiwan, England and the United States and presently lives and continues his creative journey in New York.