Person

Yan Lei is among the first generation of conceptual artists working across different mediums, whose indiscriminate adoption of painting, photography, video, performance and installation, has always been geared towards articulating, manifesting and negotiating the dynamics between the local and the global, the center and the periphery, the powerful and the disempowered, if not to address the constantly shifting grounds of social, political and economic variables under the global condition. Notoriously known for hoaxing his peers with forged invitation letters sent from Documenta’s curatorial committee (Invitation, 1997) with his and Hong Hao’s name written in reverse signed, and a series of works including ‘May I see your Work? Are you in that exhibition that goes to Germany?’ from the late 1990s. Yan Lei’s prankster gesture translated both the psyche of many Chinese artists at the time, thirsty for visibility and opportunity to engage with the global art world, while negotiating the power dynamics between the burgeoning contemporary Chinese art world vis-à-vis the global art power the artist contested. With more than two decades of conceptual art practice under his belt, Yan Lei remains skeptical of the productivity of the art system, its uneven and erratic value exchange, the dominance of the art market and its impact on artistic production. (Source: Boers-Li Gallery)

With more than two decades of conceptual art practice under his belt, Yan Lei remains skeptical of the productivity of the art system, its uneven and erratic value exchange, the dominance of the art market and its impact on artistic production, to Yan Lei, reveal certain malaise, and its limitations hinder the production of value and meaning. (Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing)