Xu Lei

executed in 2011

Private Collection, China

A Grey Carnival - Chinese Contemporary Art since 2000, Guangxi Normal University Press, Guilin, 2013, pl. 386

Generally good condition overall.
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Combining traditional Chinese ink and brush techniques with the spirit of Western surrealism, Xu Lei's paintings are poetic mysteries—cerebrally enticing and visually arresting with their saturated ink and colour palette. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Xu Lei does not overtly challenge his viewers in an attempt to be subversive or provocative. Infused with wit, irony and subtly coded eroticism, Xu Lei's surreal images reveal through the art of concealment. The distortion of perspective and vivid realism portray familiar objects in an unfamiliar context, thus depriving them of mundane connotations. The imagined scenes are meticulously rendered and devoid of any visual abstraction. It is at this juncture that the viewer realises that what we see are mere appearances, a kind of deja vu in a different life; Or as the renowned Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges described literature where "the original is unfaithful to the translation."  

Moon Veil (Lot 19) evokes the solitude of gazing at the moon from behind the drapery of a window.  Xu Lei attributes this theme to the writing by beloved author, Italo Calvino, whose first and most well-known story "The Distance of the Moon" describes the ultimate departure of the moon from Earth. The original story describes a love triangle between people who easily jumped between Earth and the moon, but as the moon drifts away the lovers are forced to part.  Xu Lei is successful in capturing this moment of familiarity and emptiness in his composition, yet it is impregnated with desire from the sumptuous texture of the curtains and the vivid depiction of the dominant moon. The veil acts as a double concealment, which not only secludes the viewer from the possibilities, but creates a private space of inquiry. There is something undeniably erotic in the anticipation of discovery as the viewer stares into the impenetrable void beyond the curtain. Riddles without answers, detective stories without endings, Xu Lei's paintings are the work of a unique artist steeped in nostalgia for a cultural past and engaged in our dynamic present.