Wu Ningya's Oracle Bones series is among the most eye-catching showpieces of his ongoing solo exhibition in Beijing. [PHOTO BY ZHU LINYONG/CHINA DAILY]

Although Wu was widely considered as an outstanding student, he failed to enroll at university for reasons he has never really figured out. He instead ended up studying stage design for Peking Opera troupes at a local training school. Upon graduation, he landed a job at the Henan Provincial Peking Opera Theater.

But Wu refused to give up on his childhood dream. He soon quit his job at the state-run art institution and joined an advertising company as a designer. While working there, Wu recalls, he was keen to learn a broad range of painting methods and techniques with a view to developing his future artistic creations.

Later on, Wu worked in the lucrative real estate sector as an architect. From 1989 to 2013, he set up many businesses－from advertising, architecture, interior design and fashion design, to running a private club, an art gallery and other hospitality and catering operations.

Wu frequently travels from Henan to other parts of the country and abroad.

Despite his hectic work schedule, Wu devoted most of his spare time and energy visiting art exhibitions and biennials and attending art auctions, making case studies of prominent artists, and exposing himself extensively to diverse art genres, styles and trends, he says.