Shu Qun (born 1958 in Taonan, Jilin Province, with ancestral roots in Jingde, Anhui) is known for his rational painting style and cross-media artistic practices. Influenced by his family’s artistic background, he began studying painting under his father in 1968. In 1973, he was admitted to the Jilin Professional School of the Arts, and in 1978, he entered the Chinese Painting Department at the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts. During his studies, Shu, along with Ren Jian and others, engaged in the study of both Western and Chinese philosophy and art history, developing a deep interest in the Metaphysical School and Surrealism.

In 1984, he co-founded the Northern Art Group with Ren Jian, Wang Guangyi, and others, becoming a key proponent of the ’85 New Wave. This movement played a crucial role in shifting the conceptual foundations of contemporary Chinese art. Shu Qun created this work during a pivotal period when the Chinese contemporary art scene was actively seeking to engage with the international art world. Artists at the time keenly recognized the unique significance of encyclopedic Chinese-language art books such as The Complete Collection of World Art, which introduced the artistic styles of various countries and served as a primary window for Chinese contemporary artists to explore global art in the 1980s and 1990s. At the center of The Complete Collection of World Art Series – U.S. Volume 1 is an iconic image from Pop Art, one of the most influential artistic movements in the United States at the time. This imagery encapsulates symbols of addiction, desire, and fashion, reflecting the cultural and visual language of consumer society. The work functions like a two-way mirror—on one side, it reflects the defining themes of Western art; on the other, it foreshadows China’s rapid embrace of consumerism in the 1990s, a transformation that would prove irreversible.