Gu Wenda was born in Shanghai, China in 1955. He graduated from Shanghai School of Arts in 1976. In 1981 he received his M.F.A. from China Academy of Arts, where he studied under the classical landscape painting master Lu Yanshao and where he taught from 1981 to 1987. Gu moved to the USA in 1987. He was an associate professor of Studio Art at the University of Minnesota from 1989 to 1990 and received the title of Honorary Minnesotan from the Governor of Minnesota. He has been invited to lecture at various art academies, universities and institutions worldwide. He is a guest artist and adjunct faculty member of Cooper Union in New York. 

Gu was a panel member of the International Artists Residence of PS1 Museum in New York in 1995, a panel member of the Student Scholarship Committee of the Chicago Art Institute in 1998, and a jurist for the Macao Arts Festival for the application of United Nations World Heritage. In 2003, Gu was a candidate for an honorary doctorate from the Maine College of Art in 2001.

Since 1981, Wenda Gu has participated in numerous international solo and group exhibitions and biennales.