Stone Chun Shi's Bio

Stone Chun Shi

Stone Shi (aka. Chun Shi, Schutze) was born in Nanjing China in 1963. As a boy, he enjoyed painting and drawing and would travel far to other cities to take professional lessons from art teachers and professors at the art academy. Stone came to the United States in 1987. Here in New York, he perfected his skill and broadened his horizon via a scholarship at Art Studio Club. He attended his first group show at Harrison Public Library of Westchester county and exhibited at Sabrina Fung Gallery in Manhattan in 1988.

Stone dived right into the East Village art scene and heavy metal music when he lived on Bleecker Street. He developed mixed medium oil paintings reflecting social phenomena such as the rise of aids and homosexuality. From 1988 to 1992, Stone attended many group shows at avant-garde galleries in Manhattan, such as Kenkeleba Gallery, the Clocktower, Alternative Museum, and White Columns. Since 1993, Stone's artworks had exhibited internationally in Germany, Scotland, Taiwan, and China.

Stone had two solo shows in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1994. He became a household name through a series of award-winning beverage commercials that portrayed him as the trendsetter in art and heavy metal music. He became the host for MTV Asia's 24 hours Mandarin Channel.

Stone spent the next 16 years becoming an entrepreneur in developing online media platforms for companies like China Mobile and China Telecom. In 16 years, Stone witnessed the political and social change impacted by the economic development in China. He incorporated his experience doing business in China with privileged officials and the elite in his new paintings. Further, He developed a new language and style in art: oil cubes similar to mosaics.

Using the new language in art, Stone started an eight-year-long "Currency War" project to paint Chinese and US currency. Following the success of the currency war series, he further developed his style and painted iconic symbols such as the Cross, Buddha, Marilyn Monroe, Miles Davis, and even Taylor Swift. Using his time-consuming techniques and rich knowledge of color, he interpreted Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night and Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Since 2010, Stone has dedicated himself to the "oil cube" painting that he developed. He spent most of his time in his studio painting cube by cube on each of his artwork that consists of tens of thousands of shades of cubes. Stone believes that a true artist must discover his unique style in fine art that nobody else would use. Stone poured out his appreciation of life and love on each of his paintings and labored himself through the painstaking process of cube painting, which made his beautiful artworks stand out anywhere, regardless of a gallery, showroom, or collector's private home.

My artlang, with a strong personal distinction, allows me to express myself through the medium of oil. Since beginning to paint at ten years old in Nanjing China, I have spent my whole life learning, developing, and mastering the techniques of oil painting.

Art is Life

I discovered the spirit of self-expression in contemporary art after I came to New York in 1987. It was in the city of New York that I began the journey of finding my own artlang, which eventually led me back to China in 2010. China, then, was booming with economical development and transformation of social ideology. Inspired by the pixelation on television as a means to hide peoples’ identities, I started to use pixels as a method to paint my very first RMB currency to mock such an avaricious trend. Since then, I’ve uncovered my voice in art and through which, I have used to express my opinions on the social phenomena I was facing.

My artist language represents the Zen expression of mountains and waters. At first, you see things for what they are, mountains as mountains and waters as waters. Then at a second glimpse, you may realize these things aren’t just what they portray, however upon a third viewing, not only will you see mountains and waters again, but you will understand what they truly represent.

EDUCATION

SELECTEDEXHIBITIONS

Buddha Lotus, Beijing Poly Fall Auction 2018 Show, China Agriculture Exhibition Center (中国农展馆), Beijing ChinaDec. 2018 (un）SCENE Art Show NYC April 2015

Total Talent International Show at BELSKIE Museum of Feb. 2014

The First Contemporary Art Weibo Exhibition Songzhuang Art Center (宋庄美术馆), Beijing ChinaDec. 2013

Art China 2012, China Agriculture Exhibition Center (中国农展馆), Beijing China Nov. 2012

Art Is Capital, East Asia Bank Beijing Center (东亚银⾏北京分⾏), Beijing China Sep. 2012

Shi Cun Solo Show, IT Park Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, 1994

Shi Cun Solo Show, Up Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 1994 Group show, Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr, Scotland, 1993 Group show, Gottingen City Hall, Gottingen, Germany, 1993 Group show, Grimm-Museum, Kassel, Germany, 1993 Group show, Schwedt Gallery, Oder, Germany, 1992 Group Show, Rosenthal Theater, Selb, Germany, 1992

Gallerie IX Atelier, Berlin, Germany, 1992 Open Window, New York City, 1991

"Positive Actions: Aids Timeline”, The Clocktower, NYC, 1990

"Dia De Los Muertos", Alternative Museum, Manhattan, 1990 Wellspring Group Show, Kenkeleba Gallery, NYC, 1989

Art Studio Group Show, Phoenix Gallery, NYC, 1989

Sabrina Fung Gallery, New York, NY, 1988

SELECTEDINTERVIEWS

"Stone Oil Cube promotes the revival of traditional art in the digital era, " China Collection Magazine November Issue 2021 "Stone Cube, an anchor point linking the traditional paintings and future arts in the information age," China Collection Magazine May Issue 2021 The Art of Money, Sinovision "New York Lounge" Aug. 2019 Stone’s Mona Lisa, published by New York New Century Press & Long Publishing Corp Oct. 2019 2018 Auction Collection of Asian Contemporary Artworks, “Buddha Lotus” 2018, Beijing, China Dec. 2018 Sohu.com “He’s the Wildest Artist,” Beijing ChinaDec. 2017

China Press “Shi Cun’s Painting Being Auctioned by Poly,” Dec. 2017 Poly Auction Modern and Contemporary Arts Magazine, “Buddha Lotus”, Dec. 2017, Beijing China 2018 Auction Collection of Asian Contemporary Artworks, “Buddha Lotus” 2018, Beijing, China, Dec. 2018 Ya Chuang Artron.net “The Art of Shi Cun Kuai,” Nov. 6, 2017, Beijing China China Press, “Creating Legend - Shi Chun and His Oil Mosaic Artwork,” April 2017, New York, April 2017 Sinovision “Hello New Yorker - Shi Cun” March 24, 2017, New York China Central Television Networks (CCTV) Channel 4 News, “The Surprising “One Buck” Trailer Shows Up On the Streets of New York", Jan. 2016 PDC Design, 31 Artists and Designers From 18 Cities Around the World, 2015, p190-p198 China Press, "Gong Xi Fa Cai” Solo Art Exhibition Opens in Chelsea, Feb. 2013

Sinovision TV news, American Chinese Artist Shi Chun’s “Gong Xi Fa Cai” Art exhibition opens on Chinese New Year, 2013, New York, Feb. 2013 TV Documentary "Ren Min Bi”, Episode 1, 2013, Shanghai Television Station, 2013 LA Times, Company Town: MTV Hopes Chinese Will Be Staring - Television: A funky, cross-cultural host leads music channel into battle for the Mandarinspeaking market, 1994, US1994 People Magazine, Legendary People, center page, 1994, Taiwan 1994 Zhi Ying Magazine, Cover, Sep. 1994, Taiwan1994

DC Art Magazine, Shi Cun - The Restless Soul, Aug.1994, Taiwan1994 Diana Magazine, Shi Chun’s Home – Indulging His Imagination, 1993, Taiwan China Times, The Storm of Shi Chun Raids Taiwan, 1993

Liberty Times, Aug. 5, 1993, Taiwan Union Daily, 1993, Taiwan