Ren is showing 36 statues from his warrior series at Qi, a solo exhibition at the 600-year-old Taimiao, or the Imperial Ancestral Temple, next to the Palace Museum in Beijing, through Friday.

"I see this exhibition as an examination of myself," Ren says. "I hope to see whether I'm still as genuine as when I first worked with clay 20 years ago, whether I still feel that energy of purity, and whether my motivations for creating art have altered."

Ren re-creates many figures from ancient Chinese tales, mythology and novels. These works demonstrate an inner energy that combines his knowledge of Western sculpture with a reserved elegance that sparkle with the wisdom of Eastern aesthetics.

Ren says a good piece of work should embody a philosophical depth and a sense of divinity.

"An artist's career is like an iceberg," he says. "His works are just the tip that indicates the scale of the other 90 percent of his understanding-the intensity of his cultural and spiritual accumulation that will continue to nurture his creation."