first came to China in 1993 at the invitation of Hans van Dijk, the most important foreign curator for modern Chinese art. As a photographer he accompanied the
artist Joerg Immendorf and the New York Times art critic Andrew Solmon on their trips to China, and made portraits of artists such as Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi, Zhang Peili, Zeng Fanzhi, and Yue Minjun.

Following many visits to China, he made Shanghai his home in 2006. In 2009 the gallery ShanghART showed his exhibition 'Stolen Treasures from Modern China', documenting the early years of the Chinese arts renaissance in the early 1990s. He was born in Essen, Germany, where he studied Communication Design.