Qu Leilei

Qu Leilei now stands as a technically accomplished master, capable of handling brush and ink with the utmost competency and photographic-like quality. His visual language is well established, and it represents a fusion of east and west. Some ink painters have chosen to push boundaries by making traditional styles more abstract or ornamented. By contrast, Leilei has sought to blend the descriptive, realistic styles of the European Renaissance with Chinese ink painting. Moreover, he has constantly worked to achieve profound concepts in his work, ideas that have universal application.

This catalogue is a retrospective, an overview of the body of work Qu Leilei has produced up to the present day. Certain broad themes can be divined: a burning interest in the history of China, and what can be learned from it; a loving concern for human beings and their individual achievements; an absorption in the anatomy and depiction of the human body; an urge to warn against the perils of the world; and a heartfelt desire to integrate Chinese and western art practice and techniques. These themes have been pursued with ever-growing skill throughout the years.

Dr. Yan Liu is Christensen Fellow in Chinese Painting at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Rose Kerr is an English art historian specialising in Chinese art, especially Chinese ceramics, on which she has written a number of books. She was the Keeper of the Far Eastern Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London until 2003.

First retrospective of a true master of Chinese ArtPublished to coincide with an exhibition at the Ashmolean, which runs from 7 November 2017 to 15 April 2018This 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.

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