Born and raised in northeastern China , Wenhai Ma showed a great love of nature when he was a boy. In his hometown of Heilongjiang he found a landscape of stark simplicity and solitary beauty. While he spent time drawing plaster casts and still-lifes in the studio, he also went out to paint. He fell in love with the “ordinary outdoors” around him: sunset over the tundra, mid-day in the backyard, white poplar woods, and local pond, etc. He enhanced his grasp of both color and light by making hundreds of sketches from life. There studies accelerated his tremendous skill for an art portraying beautiful moments in nature from a personal point of view.

In the years that followed, Ma graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing and Carnegie-Mellon University in the USA with his BFA and MFA degrees, respectively. His past endeavors reflect the diversity of his talent in pursuits such as teaching at universities in China , the USA , and Hong Kong . He has illustrated children's books and magazine articles, designed sets and costumes for theatre, and written biographical essays for various newspapers.

Ma's style reflects his early discovery of the northeastern terrain. Each painting goes beyond mere subject matter and is able to take the viewer on that same journey, somewhat out of the realm of reality. While not all of his paintings have a northeastern theme, they speak the language of his particular style that evolved, with his response to the northeastern image towards bold brushstrokes and vivid colors.

Ma has had numerous group exhibitions and one-man shows both in China and the USA . He has also had many picture books published in the USA , the UK , Canada , Taiwan , and Hong Kong . His achievements have been recognized in Who's Who Among Asian Americans in 1995.