Qu Leilei

This retrospective of Qu Leilei, whose distinguished career in England started in the 1980s when he emigrated to London, reveals the dimensions of this master’s art. As a young man and member of the “The Stars,” the group showed among the first contemporary art in China. Initially vilified, their protests for human rights eventually led to helping liberalize the contemporary art scene in China’s cities. (Wang Keping, Ai Weiwei and Ma De Sheng were others of the group.) Qu Lelei’s paintings, calligraphy and brush and ink works have since been collected worldwide, exhibited at Venice Biennale, the Beijing Biennale, the China National Art Gallery, as well at the V&A and the Ashmolean Museum, which gave him his first solo exhibition (2005). From a focus on social politics, the artist’s theme has evolved to humanity itself. He exhibits a loving concern for the achievement of human beings, as well as an absorption in anatomy. He handles brush and ink with near photograph-like quality. His visual language fuses East and West, blending descriptive, realistic styles of the European Renaissance with Chinese Ink paintings. His profound concepts have universal application as he weaves real events into fictional narratives.