Qiu Jie was born in Shanghai in 1961. In 1981, he graduated from Shanghai Light Industry College. In 1989, he went to Geneva, Switzerland to further his studies, and he continues to reside and work there.

Qiu Jie confessed that when he first came to the West, he chose to create art with pencils because it was cheap and readily available. As a result, he developed a habit, and he grew to love its rustic and pure nature.

His drawings are inordinately large. In order to adequately represent the relationships between characters and space, often times, several sheets of paper would be required to complete one work.

Qiu Jie prefers to position himself as the rational observer of history and society. He lo...