Anthony Sum's paintings hang in galleries, museums and public buildings around the world. The Melbourne-based artist has been exhibiting since he was 14 in cities as varied as Washington, Kwangsi and Stuttgart. And his works sell for tens of thousands of dollars to politicians, diplomats and the world's largest corporations.
But for all his international recognition and the financial rewards that go with it, Anthony Sum's greatest satisfaction comes from a simple artistic endeavour: teaching Melbourne schoolchildren about Chinese art.
As artist-in-residence at Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria earlier this year and with a continuing relationship with the gallery as guest teacher and lecturer - a relationship which began even before he arrived in Melbourne in 1985 - Sum is well placed to bring a little understanding of Chinese art to a city he finds increasingly interested in Asia and all things Chinese.
Through the Gallery's education services programme he offers calligraphy workshops, lectures for teachers and takes part in events in the newly opened Asian Art section. But it is opening children's eyes to a different culture that is, to him, most important.
'I am doing contemporary art these days, but there is no point in showing that to children,' says Sum, who trained with both Chinese and Western masters.
'It's better to let them have some knowledge of other countries, the different kind of materials they use for their art and to show them something traditionally Chinese.