Yuan Wu (born in 1959) has been proclaimed as one of the best one hundred painters in China today. He is inspired by classical Chinese literature. Yuan Wu has received many prizes including the famous "Canadian Maple Leaf" First Prize awarded to painters worldwide using the ink & wash technique. Yuan Wu has a meditative style and paints with a lot of imagination and skill characters from the Chinese literature. Yuan Wu uses both the traditional technique of ink and wash and a restricted palette of colours like the old masters. He is close to the ancient philosophers who believed in the fusion with nature. His characters are all influenced by nature, becoming nature itself. In many cases, we see that his characters look like the very natural scene they are admiring. For example, Su Dongpo admiring a tree takes on the general appearance of a tree, the fisherman amongst the vegetation has grown a coat of reeds. The final effect is strong, convincing and always conveys calm and serenity.