The British abstract painter's works are now on display in Beijing.
His connection with the country began in 1998 when he led an ICA team to stage exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai, where they showed works of Damien Hirst and other famous British artists, as well as books on art and style. They also installed booths from which photos of people kissing were projected on a big screen, and that "drew a huge crowd", says Dodd.
Describing the time as the two most interesting weeks in his life, he says, "I thought then that the future belonged to China."
Dodd left the ICA to establish Made In China, a company to facilitate cultural, educational and commercial projects between China and Europe. It advised the British on their pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
Over the past 14 years, Dodd has visited China some eight times a year. He says the country has reinvented itself enormously with its interest in arts and culture, especially in recent times.
"It's very smart of China to do arts and culture, develop its own brand and to change its educational programs," he says of the country's attempt to transform itself from the world's factory to a center of art and design.
