Xu Lei

BIOGRAPHY
1963    Born in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
1980-1984    Studied at Chinese Painting Department of Nanjing Arts Institute, China
1984    Researcher and artist of Jiangsu Traditional Painting Academy
1988    Published Dreamy Shore by Jiangsu Art Publishing, China
1991    Listed in Contemporary Chinese Art Documentary (1990-1991)
1992    Published Extraordinary Door by Jiangsu Art Publishing, China 
2001    Published Contemporary Style of Court Painting: Xu Lei, Zhang Jian, Hebei Education Publishing, China
Listed in Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, Culture and Art Publisher, Beijing, China
Present Works at Creative and Research Centre, China Art Academy; Editor-in-Chief of Classics Magazine
Lives in Beijing, China 

• On Tao, Tracing the Origin, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

• Three-State Time: Xu Lei Solo Exhibition, Yinshan Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, China

2021      

• Enjoyment: Xu Lei Solo Exhibition, Nanchizi Museum, Beijing, China

2015      

• Fugue, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China

• Blue Dream, Asia House, London, UK

• Silent Voices: Ink Paintings by Xu Lei, Red Box Studio & Mee-seen Loong Fine Art, New York, USA

• Xu Lei: Renaissance of Tradition, Library of Congress, Washington, USA

• Silent Voices: Ink Paintings by Xu Lei, Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., New York, USA

• Illusions: Xu Lei’s Art Exhibition, Keyi Gallery, Nanjing, China

• Works by Xu Lei & Yu Wei, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong; Browse & Darby Gallery, London, UK

• The Mystery of Absence: Xu Lei’s Art Exhibition, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

• Jiangsu Province Art Museum, Nanjing, China

• Xu Lei’s Painting Exhibition, Cultural Office of the Italian Embassy, Beijing, China

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• The Unfinished Future: 10^th Anniversary of the Annual Review of Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting, Guangdong Museum of Art (Baietan), Guangzhou, China (Sept 24-Nov 22)
• Tracing Forward, 10^th Anniversary of Being and Inking: Documenting Contemporary Ink Art, Kui Yuan Gallery, Guangzhou, China
• Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance, French May Arts Festival, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong

• 10^th Beijing International Art Biennial: International Contemporary Ink Art Special Exhibition, Beijing Exhibition Centre, Beijing, China

• Tradition Transformed, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

• Forty Years of Contemporary Ink in China 1985-2024 Travelling Exhibition, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing; Xinjiang Art Museum, Urumqi, China

• Contemporary Logic of a Pure and Remote View, Wuhan Art Museum (Qintai), Wuhan, China

• The Evolutionary Trace of the Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

• A Horse Bounds across the Sky, a Dragon, Rare in Human's Eyes: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Eurus Art Space, Qingdao, China

• Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2023

• Observing the Way: From Chronography Research to Ink Art, After Hill Art Centre, Guangzhou, China

• Thinking with the Senses: Inaugural, Dacheng Art Museum, Changzhou, China

2022

• Mirroring the Heart of Heaven and Earth: Ideals and Images in the Chinese Study, Palace Museum, Beijing, China
• Being, Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu, China
• Past & Present Landscapes: Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
• The Milk of Dreams: 59th Venice Biennale, Chinese Pavilion, Arsenale, Venice, Italy
• Innovation of Ink: Transformation and Reinvention of Oriental Aesthetics – Featured Exhibition of Wang Dongling & Xu Lei, Sands Gallery, Macau

• Millennium After Millennium, Ying Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing; XY Gallery, Guangzhou, China

• Exhibition of Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing; An Art Museum, Beijing, China

• Waves and Echoes: A Process of Re-contemporarization in Chinese Art Circa 1987 Revisited, Inside-out Art Museum, Beijing, China

• Contemporary Forms of Ink Painting, Art Basel Online Viewing Rooms, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2019

• The Painted Screen: Past and Future, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China

• Ink at Current: 10th International Ink Art Biennial of Shenzhen, OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China

• Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

• Beyond Ink: 20^th China Shanghai International Arts Festival Program, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• Redefining the City with Context • Beyond the Wall: Xi’an Contemporary Art Exhibition 2018, Xi’an Art Museum, Xi’an, China

• Alisan Fine Arts: Celebrating 35 Years of Promoting Chinese Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong 

• Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

• The Chinese Scholar: Ink paintings and Works of Art, Five Friends of Spring Exhibition, New York, USA

• Reshaping History: Chinart 2000-2009, National Convention Centre, Beijing, China
• Pavilion of China, 12th International Architecture Exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

• Chinese Gardens for Living: Europalia International Art Festival, the Square, Brussels, Belgium

• Case Studies of Artists in Art History and Art Criticism, SZ Art Centre, Beijing, China
• Zeichen im Wandel der Zeit: Chinesische Tuschemalerei der Gegenwart, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin & Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany

• What’s next? Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong
• Sensitivity: Memories of Twelve Artists’ Works, Dimensions Art Centre, Beijing, China
• Rotation, Nanjing Qinghe Contemporary Art Centre, Nanjing, China

• Poetic Reality: A Reinterpretation of Jiangnan, RCM Gallery, Nanjing, China
• South-east China, Groups Exhibition of Hong Lei, Tang Guo and Xu Lei, Beijing TS1 Contemporary Art Centre, Beijing, China

• Beyond Temporality: Presentation of Photography According to Contemporary Art Approach, Ping Yao, China
• Conspire, Beijing TS1 Contemporary Art Centre, Beijing, China
• Pele Dacidade: Imagens of Metropole Contemporanea, Shenzhen Museum of Art, China; Galeria Tap Seac of Macau, Macau

• Photographs from Nanjing, Nanjing Art Museum, China
• Dragon’s Nation: Contemporary Art of China, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland
• 1st Nominational Exhibition of Fine Arts Literature, Wuhan, China
• One to One: Photographs from China, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA

• The Different Same: Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China

• Behind the Reality Other Modernity, Dimensions Art Centre, Taipei, Taiwan
• Paper/Colour, Taikang Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• Contemporary Artist Print Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

• Exhibition of Chinese Ink & Wash Paintings, Edinburgh, UK
• Contemporary Silk-screen by Chinese Artists, Dynasty Art Group, Taipei, Taiwan

• China: 5000 Years, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
• Neo-Ink Paintings, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai; Jiangsu Province Art Museum, Nanjing, China
• New Frontier-New Vision, Shanghai, China

• New Voices: Contemporary Art Dialogue Among Taipei, Hong Kong & Shanghai, Dimensions Art Center, Taipei; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
• 5 Cinesi a Verpuno, Arte Nel Castello, Italy
• Exhibition of 5000 Years of Chinese Art and Civilization, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

• International Asian Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, New York, USA
• Reality: Today and Tomorrow - Chinese Contemporary Art, International Art Garden Museum, Beijing, China
• Eight Artists From China, Browse & Darby Gallery, London, UK

• Nostalgia - Modernity: Walasse Ting & Xu Lei, Tresors, The International Fine Art and Antiques for Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Singapore

• The Practical Art of Paper, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China

• China Avant-Garde, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

• Four Artists from Nanjing, Invited by Cultural Affairs Section, US Consulate General in Guangzhou, China

• Jiangsu Festival of Contemporary Art: Young Artists Section, China

• Sixth National Fine Arts Exhibition, Jiangsu Traditional Painting Academy, China

Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China
Nanjing Arts Institute, Nanjing, China
M+, Hong Kong