Biography: Han Lei
Beijing-based artist Han Lei is credited as a pioneer of Chinese photography following the Cultural Revolution. During the late 1980s, Han documented village life in his hometown of Kaifeng, Henan, and, since then, he has developed an expansive and complex artistic practice working across media including sculpture, installation, and painting. Nonetheless, Han remains a photographer first, and is noted for the elaborate pageantry and low-saturation of his images.
Han is particularly interested in exploring contemporary notions of beauty, literary figures, and traditional Chinese arts. The models who appear in his work typically possess certain unique qualities and are not conventional beauties. Corpulent women, for instance, are precisely posed, so as to evoke historical Western works of art or to enact familiar Chinese narratives. These striking images upend engrained perceptions of beauty, as they emphasize the inner states and emotional depth of these models, in addition to their enchanting outward distinctiveness. Employing similar tactics, Han has also produced a well-known body of work in which circular landscape photographs recall traditional Chinese paintings and are infused with nostalgia and timelessness.
Han’s work has been exhibited at the Kwangju Museum of Art, the Guangzhou Museum of Art, the Gwangju Museum of Art, the Guangzhou Photography Biennial, and the Prague International Museum, among others places.
| 1967 | Born in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China |
| 1989 | Graduated from Central Academy of Craft and Design, Beijing, China. |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2012 | Don't Get Me Wrong: Han Lei solo show, M97 Gallery, Shanghai, China |
| Klippe: Han Lei + Wang Yabin, C5 Art, Beijing, China | |
| 2010 | Han Lei：RUPTURA BREAKTHROUGH, Magee Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain |
| In between: Han Lei Solo Exhibition, Talkang Space, Beijing, China | |
| The Light of Day: Han Lei Solo Exhibition, M97 Gallery,Shanghai, china | |
| 2009 | Image Tricks: Han Lei + Photography，Iberia Center for Contemporary Art ，Beijing, China |
| 2008 | Swamp-Han Lei Solo Exhibition, C5 Art, Beijing, China |
| 2007 | Renaissance of Photography: Han Lei Photography Exhibition, Gallery J. Chen, Taiwan, China |
| Photography by Han Lei, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China | |
| 2006 | Where is China? Han Lei Photography, Art Now Gallery, Beijing, China |
| Pagoda: Han Lei Photography, Gallery LOFT, Paris, France | |
| 2005 | Portraits: Han Lei, Gallery Polaris, Paris, France |
| Killing Legend, 798 Photo Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Han Lei Photography, Gallery Leda Fletcher, Geneva, Switzerland | |
| 2003 | Strange, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, China |
| 1996-1997 | Alienation, Hippolyte Gallery, Helsinki, Finland; Podwell Gallery, Berlin, Germany; China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, China |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2014 | Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names, Ullens Center For Contemporary Art, Beijing, China |
| 2013 | Portrait of the times: 30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Power station of Art. Shanghai, China |
| New Framework: Chinese Avant-garde Photography from 1980s-90s，blindspot gallery. Hong Kong | |
| Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin | |
| 2010 | China photographs Madrid @ Madrid Pavillion, EXPO, Shanghai |
| Community of Tastes – Chinese contemporary Art since 2000, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo(MAC), Santiago, Chile | |
| Kalpastival of Photography, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art ，Beijing, China | |
| 2009 | Lianzhou International Photo Festival, Lianzhou, Guangdong, China |
| 55 Days in Valencia: Chinese Art Meeting, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia, Spain | |
| 2008 | The Oriental Rainbow: An Index of Images in China’s Urbanization Process, Magee Art Gallery (Madrid), Madrid, Spain |
| 2007 | Distance Estimated by Eyes Photography of Eight Chinese, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China |
| Lianzhou International Photo Festival, Lianzhou, China | |
| Memories of Twelve Artists’ Works, Dimensions Art Center, Beijing & Taipei, China | |
| Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition: The New Wind from China, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea | |
| 2006 | Lianzhou International Photo Festival, Lianzhou, Guangdong, China |
| Chinese Avant-garde Photography since 1990, Asia Art Center, Beijing, China | |
| Chinese Contemporary Photography for 20 years, Square Gallery of Contemporary Art, Nanjing, China | |
| Han Tsungwoo, Han Lei, Hong Lei Photography Exhibition, C5ART, Beijing, China | |
| 2005 | Paris Photo, Paris, France |
| City Skin-Images of the Contemporary Metropolis, Tap Seac Gallery , Macao | |
| Rome Photography Festival, Rome, Italy | |
| Viewing the City, Guangzhou Photo Biennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China | |
| 2004 | Rome Photography Festival, Rome, Italy |
| Traveling in Spring: Aura Gallery, Shanghai, China | |
| If You Are A Collector, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, China | |
| Illusion, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, China | |
| Forbidden City International Photography Exhibition, Beijing, China | |
| San Francisco International Photographic Art Exposition, San Francisco, USA | |
| Intersection: Contemporary Oil Painting and Photography, Chambers Fine Art, New York, U.S.A. | |
| Landscape: Hushen Gallery, Shanghai, China | |
| 2003 | Spiritual Tour, Top Space, Beijing, China |
| Elsewhere, Chongqing Art Museum, Chongqing, China | |
| From China: Contemporary Chinese Photography, Gallery Image, Denmark | |
| A Strange Heaven: Contemporary Chinese Photography, Prague International Museum, Prague, Czech Republic | |
| Landscape, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, China | |
| Rome Photography Festival, Rome, Italy | |
| Tempo di Donne, Sala Gatti, Viterbo, Italy | |
| 2002 | Dialogue: Beautiful and Tragic, Capital Museum, Beijing, China |
| Golden Harvest: Chinese Contemporary Art, Croatia National, Croatia | |
| Facing Reality, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, China | |
| 2001 | Disorientation: Photography and Video in China Today, Chambers Fine Art, New York , U.S.A. |
| 3rd Ping Yao International Photography Festival, Ping Yao, China | |
| Berlin Art Exposition, Berlin, Germany | |
| 2000 | Cities of the 21st century: Siemens Cultural Program, Frankfurt, Germany; New York, U.S.A. |
| 1999 | A Visible Spirit: Contemporary Photography from the People’s Republic of China, Cypress College Photography Galleries, California, U.S.A. |
| 1998 | Railways and People (the 1998 Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography Awards), Art Center and Studio Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A. |
| 1996 | China: Aktuelles aus 15 Ateliers, Reithalle, Munich, Germany |
| 1995 | International Art Festival of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium |
| 1994 | Contemporary Photography from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China |
| 1993 | Rodez Photofolies 6th Festival, Rodez, France |
