Chinese, b.1970, Zibo, Shandong. He graduated from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Painting Department, BA in 1994 and teaching at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Oil Painting Department until to 2002. Then he graduated from Fourth Studio, Central Academy of Fine Arts, MFA in 2005. Between 1998-1999, he seconded to the Ministry of Culture and posted to Eritrea as a teacher. Currently lives and works in Beijing.
Ma Ke does not restrict him to a single thought process, nor is he concerned with a greater narrative. Instead, he turns to a more fragmented type of reality and seeks to express its complexities. His paintings present a constructed reality, a dejected ‘reality’ that we take for granted, resembles a spiritual allegory. In his more recent works, the artist condenses his sense of ‘reality’ into an enigmatic and inexplicable realm.