Sun Jiapei's paintings are composed in a visual language inspired by three distinct cultural influences. The structure of his artistic vocabulary is built on the traditional Chinese techniques he was taught as a boy, while his compositions are imbued with the Japanese aesthetic of harmony and balance he learned as a young man. Yet it is the masterful use of light and shadow that ultimately elevates his work into poetry. Though as a student western art was forbidden, it was ultimately the exposure to Rembrandt that would impact his art and impart that most crucial element. Sun Jiapei's work, like his life's travels have explored the richness and nuances of very diverse worlds. The rarified atmosphere of a city, whose life force is centered on the rivers and canals that traverse the landscape, has always been the artist's muse.

In a quest for greater artistic freedom, Sun Jaipei left China in the 1990's and immigrated first to Japan. He then spent several years living in Europe and gained first-hand knowledge of the canal cities he yearned to paint, among them Venice, Bruges and Paris. He was also able to see in person, for the first time, the works of the great European masters, who had such great influence upon his work. Sun Jiapei has returned to Tokyo to live, but he continues to explore a world that was closed to him for so long.