FEATURED ARTIST ZHANG Lei
Born in 1980, originally from Yichang, Hubei Province, graduated in 2004 from the Oil Painting Department of the School of Arts, Chinese Min University, with a bachelor’s degree. Currently located in Beijing.
Group Exhibition:
2018
Art Conference – Guanshe Space, Beijing. Raffles City, Shanghai. Taikoo Li, Chengdu. K11, Chengdu
2017
Two Landscapes and One World: Sino-Korean Young Artists Exchange Exhibition, Korean Cultural Center in China, Beijing
2016
Life, Objects, Emotions – The first exhibition of the Autumn Exhibition of the Official House of Art, will be space, Beijing
Readymade painting – Ying Art Center, Shanghai
Wall Power – Poster Artist Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing
2015
Together – Critical Traditionalism Contemporary Youth Exhibition, Xinyi VIP Building, Langfang
Youth Art 100 – China Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing
798 Art Festival 4th Youth Promotion Exhibition – Rose Name Art Center, Beijing
The 2nd Nanjing International Art Exhibition – Nanjing International Exhibition Center, Nanjing
Art Without Boundaries – Shanghai Art Museum, Beijing
Art Up – Poly Auction 10th Anniversary Contemporary Qingfeng Art Fair, China Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing
Wuhe - Young Artists Exhibition, Shanghai Nan’an Art Museum, Shanghai
Multiprism: The Structural Latitude of Emerging Abstraction, Youth Research Institute, Beijing
2014
Reorganization-Deconstruction: Curators of Shanghai Art Space Invitational Exhibition, Shanghai Art Space, Beijing
Asian Young Artists Nomination Exhibition – Song Yang Art Museum, Beijing
Art Without Boundaries: Future Exhibition, Yue Art Museum, Beijing
A New Generation of Abstract Art – Sakami Art Museum, Beijing
Brave New World – Contemporary Visual Art Exhibition, Naked-eye Space, Beijing
Who’s Present – Second Exhibition, Qiaoshe Gallery, Beijing
Texture – UPART Opening Exhibition – Shanghai Art Space, Beijing
Invitational exhibition of works by 50 Chinese artists celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China, Paris
The 7th Hangzhou Art Fair – World Trade International Exhibition Center, Hangzhou
2013
Mirror Portrait – Four Artists Exhibition, Zitong Gallery, Beijing
SURGE ART – Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Taipei
Songzhuang – Comprehensive Exhibition of People’s Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Beijing
Two in a Group – Zhang Yu Wang Yan Works Exhibition, Today Gallery, Beijing
Beijing Mini Art Exhibition – Jiulayer Art Museum, Beijing
True Image≠ Truth——3+3 Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, Hubei Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, Wuhan
Self-Interpretation: Contemporary Art Youth Invitational Exhibition, Jinmu Water, Fire and Earth Art Space, Beijing
2012
The first Weibo Exhibition of Contemporary Art – Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing
Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art – Lucerne, Switzerland
Culture Desert – Kubuchi Museum of Contemporary Art, Kubuchi
Wandering Dreams – Eight Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Zhao Xucheng Art Museum, Beijing
Harmony and Difference – 14+14 Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing
2011
Homogeneous Heterogeneous – Hong Kong Museum of Art, Beijing
Essen Mercator exhibition – Germany
Art 11 – Libo Village Gallery, Beijing
Our home – Century Wealth Center, Beijing
Through the Forest and See the Scenery – Hubei Artists Invitational Exhibition, Qiaoshe Gallery, Beijing
Taste – Art Museum of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, Wuhan
Post-80s Art Archives (I) – Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing
Multi Less – EGG Gallery, Beijing
2010
Invitation Exhibition of Jiabao Art Cutting-edge Paintings——Garbo Art Museum, Wuhan
Study Beyond – The 2nd Chinese Small Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
Youth Upstairs – 2010 Young Critics Nomination Exhibition, Times Museum, Beijing
What is Narrative – A4 Gallery, Chengdu
Linglong Tower Art Exhibition – Cigar Gallery, Kunming
One Flower and One World – Contemporary Art Exhibition, Zhiguan Art Museum, Wuhan
2009
Shanghai International Art Fair Contemporary Art Exhibition – Shanghai International Exhibition Center
2008
Cityscape: Hubei Forces in Contemporary Art – Xinbo Gallery, Shanghai
2007
Bird’s Eye View – Painting is Life, Shanghai Art Museum, Beijing
2006
The First Invitational Exhibition of Young Artists’ Works – Beihang Art Museum, Beijing
The viewer’s guide to the key words of “Zhan Meng S – Dowry”
- Warm and cold light. The warm and soft silk satin surface is connected with the sharp and cold metal cold light, is it the hustle and bustle of the past world, the cold and ruthless concession to the era of industrial technology, or the backlash? Is it a feast of visual experience or a soul shudder of touch testing?
- Reproduction and paraphrasing. Will “painting” copy the “information” of “cloth” to create ambiguity and new interpretations? Translating the missing and misloaded information in transcription may have been the laws and laws of natural evolution. No need to marvel, no need to be amazed.
- Duality and unity. Are the two sides separated by the cutting line binary or one? Whether the appearance is absolutely opposite, or is it just a regulation of the scope on the scale, in fact, there should have been an answer long ago. “Painted” and “not painted” were originally one thing, so why are they separated.
- Life and art. Is it a commodity? Is it a gift? Or a work of art? No, neither, it’s readymade art. It is the commodity that ends art, but art nirvana in the commodity and becomes readymade art, which is really a paradox. In fact, the boundary between art and life should be blurred, and the new concept of readymade art is not new, in response to the old saying “life is art, art is life”.
- There is and nothing, virtual and real. Something comes from nothing, reality comes from nothing. The faint and disillusioned between the patterns of the two compartments is the experience of reality and the void, and it is also the perception of nothingness. There is no need to be persistent in clarifying whether there is or not, and there is no need to worry about the gains and losses.
- Time and space. Whether it is used for a lifetime or at the bottom of the box, time flows quietly on it, and the moment the work is hung on the exhibition wall, it is just a space in space, the years stand still, waiting for the gaze of the viewer and the memory of the deceased.
- Elite and folklore. The minimalism and abstraction from the Western aesthetic elite culture, and the auspicious dragon and phoenix from traditional Chinese folk culture, the collision and interaction of rich peonies, is it embarrassing. “Dislocation is beauty”.
- “White” canvas vs. “Color” canvas. All paintings are newly built on “white” canvas. The dream work is not completed by the author independently, but also the “life” of the “color” canvas and its own image content.
Additional background information:
The carrier of the work is the canvas, not a “white” canvas, but a readymade product of what I call a “color” canvas. These quilt noodles are all collected from the folk, old, used dowry. Some of the surface will have fading, water stains, silk drawing, insect eyes and other phenomena. This is a trace of the original owner’s life and use, which does not belong to the flawed part in the creation of the work, but is an important component of the creation and content communication of the work. The difference between this series of works and traditional shelf painting is that the work itself is not completed by the author alone, in a period of creation and production, but when it is faced as a dowry, it quietly starts its creative cycle. When the original owner of the dowry owns and uses it, the time and events contained in it are infused into the meaning of the work. This kind of creative idea that combines time behavior with space painting as the form is the author’s academic exploration of the boundaries of painting. Under the thesis that “art is dead”, explore more possibilities on the edge of painting art and make the last move. As an old “new” category, readymade painting has some innate intrinsic properties, which are different from traditional painting, and are hereby explained.
Solo exhibitions:
2014
Self-Sufficiency and Defects: Zhang Yu’s Solo Exhibition, Shanghai Art Space, Beijing
2013
Visual Frustration – Zhang Yun’s Solo Exhibition, Painters’ Village Gallery, Beijing
ZHANG Lei’s artworks are
available in our shop.