Artistic Journey

1963–1986 · Nanjing and Early Painting

Born in Nanjing and raised in part in rural Wuxi, Stone encountered painting and music as a child. Drawing, training with art teachers and an early interest in literature and philosophy formed the background to his independent artistic development.

1987–1993 · New York and Experimental Art

Stone moved to New York in 1987. The city’s downtown art scene encouraged him to reconsider the assumptions of his earlier training and experiment with materials and mixed-media painting.

Exhibitions at New York venues were followed by presentations in Germany and Scotland. His work An Old Love Story entered the collection of the Grimm-Museum in Kassel, Germany.

1994–1995 · Painting, Rock and Television

In 1994, Stone held solo exhibitions in Taiwan and released the heavy-metal rock album 摇滚街头一条汉子 through Friendly Dogs. His appearances in a series of Taiwanese beverage commercials brought wider attention to his art and music.

In 1995, he became a host for MTV Asia’s Mandarin-language channel. Painting, performance and music offered different ways to express the same search for an individual voice.

2010–2019 · The Emergence of Stonecube

Around 2010, Stone began the currency paintings that became the foundation of Stonecube. Renminbi, Hong Kong dollar and US dollar images were rebuilt from individually formed oil-paint units.

In 2015, the two-sided One Buck installation took the currency project onto the streets of New York. The visual language expanded into portraits, spiritual imagery and landscapes. The biography Stone’s Mona Lisa was published in 2019.

2020–Present · Historical Images and New Media

Works including Starry Night and Along the River During the Qingming Festival develop Stonecube through the reinterpretation of familiar cultural images. The latter was commissioned for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in New York.

The 2025 paintings Panda, Sunset and The Great Wave off Kanagawa continue this investigation. Digital painting extends the practice into another medium. In 2026, Memor Museum in New York presented STONECUBE: The Initial Language of No-Time Consciousness.