Born in 1976 in Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, Zheng Delong is one of the few prominent contemporary Chinese painters to have no formal fine art training. This gap in his resumé, rather than being a negative factor, makes his talent all the more interesting and impressive. Though fascinated by painting as a teenager, in part due to his father’s own artistic and collecting interests, it was not until the late 1990s that Zheng established himself in a studio in Chengdu. His work is characterized by powerful images – portraits of both humans and animals that are strong in colour and shape. Executed with swirling brushstrokes, which create a metallic appearance, his pieces attempt to marry the human soul with nature’s organic one, rendering visible the unity of the world in which we live. Zheng’s ability to mix elements of abstraction with the basic tenets of figurative representation amplifies the power of his works.