Ma Desheng born in Beijing, China in 1952. He is a a self-educated artist and he worked as an industrial draftsman and woodblock print artist before beginning to paint with traditional Chinese ink. He was one of the chief exhibition organizers, in 1979 and 1980, of the Xingxing (Stars) group of avant-garde painters, one of the short-lived associations that made up the Xinchao (New Wave) group of artists. His works are collected by Musee d'Histoire Contmporaine in Paris.