One of the most important oil painters in China's contemporary art scene, He is a graduate of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. He is part of a group of outstanding artists from the school, known collectively since the 2000s as the "Sichuan Army" in art circles.

At the exhibition opening on April 25, six artists posed for a picture in front of one of He's most celebrated paintings, The Third Generation, created in 1984. Five of the artists, excluding He, are in the portrait of a group of young people, whom He believed "represent the third generation of Chinese intellectuals and artists since 1949". They are Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya and Zhang Jun, artists and members of the "Sichuan Army"; Zhai Yongming, a celebrated poet and former wife of He; and Liu Jiakun, an international award winning architect.

The celebrated "Sichuan Army "achieved great fame on the contemporary art scene, with their works fetching record-breaking prices at auctions. He stands out among his fellow members for being the most literary and poetic in his creations.