Qu Leilei was born in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang, China in 1951, and his whole family moved to Peking (now Beijing) in 1955. From 1958 to 1964 he studied traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy under Tan Wancun, ex-student of the influential traditional Chinese painter Qi Baishi. Subsequently, having studied western art, Leilei became a founding member of the Chinese avant-garde 'Stars Group' (which later included Ai Weiwei) in the late 1970s and immigrated to England in 1985 to study at the Central School of Art and Design, before embarking on a successful career as a painter, ceramicist and lecturer.
Painter, ceramicist and lecturer, Qu Leilei was born in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang, China in 1951, moving to Peking (now Beijing) with his family in 1955. His father, Qu Bo, was one of China’s most famous writers. From 1958 to 1964, when Leilei was still very young, he studied traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy under Tan Wancun, a former student of the influential traditional Chinese painter Qi Baishi. In 1974, Leilei began to study western art independently, after which he attended one year of anatomical studies at the Beijing Medical University in 1977. In 1979, Leilei began his artistic career as a founding member of the 'Stars Group', China’s first avant-garde artistic movement which later included artist, documentarian, and activist, Ai Weiwei. The group challenged both aesthetic conventions and political authority, and aimed to encourage greater individuality and freedom of artistic expression under the Communist regime. Their use of formerly banned Western styles, from post-impressionism to abstract expressionism, was an implicit criticism of the status quo. The group’s first exhibition, held in 1979, was a provocative show of about 140 works by 23 artists, hung without official permission on the fence outside the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
In 1985 Leilei left China and relocated to London to live with his sister, where he studied western painting and drawing techniques under Cecil Collins at the Central School of Art and Design. After arriving in England, Leilei noted that the main difference between China and the West was that in England he felt he did not belong to anything, except himself: ‘The English, essentially, are individuals. In China individuality is still the greatest heresy’ (Richardson 1990, p. 35). At the beginning, in order to make ends meet, he drew portraits for tourists at Piccadilly Circus and ran workshops in calligraphy and lantern-making. In England, Leilei developed a unique artistic style based on a growing appreciation of western art, especially classical sculpture and Italian Renaissance painting, often reinterpreting subjects from Old Master paintings with a masterful use of ink wash. Leilei’s monochrome figurative paintings blend lively, transparent ink brushwork and western techniques with sensitivity and virtuosity, as exemplified by Danaë (2016), a monumental female nude, the title taken from the erotic mythologies of western art. The figure is reminiscent of European Old Masters and, in its way of expressing light, the painting draws inspiration from Rembrandt’s Danaë, yet its composition is informed by Klimt’s erotic portrayals of the female figure. In his nudes, combining eastern and western techniques, Leilei shows how the traditional Chinese medium of ink and brush can, through deft gradations of chiaroscuro, generate the sculptural quality typical of western art. Art historian Michael Sullivan, one of the most distinguished experts in the field of Chinese art, praised Leilei’s talent and technical skills, especially in the rendering of the human hand, one of the most complex subjects to draw: ‘Leilei paints it beautifully, transforming it into a powerful image carrying deep human feelings of love’ (Hua Gallery website).
As a Chinese artist living in London, Leilei’s unique identity allows him to look objectively at both dimensions of his life and to address them in his work, creating a resonance of different cultures on the canvas. In his work, he not only unites east and west, but also reflects upon the complex interaction of aesthetics, immigrant experience and Chinese history. The latter is a subject he has explored since 2010 in the series, A Thousand Years of Empire. The Soldier (2013) and The Invincible (2015) investigate the cultural trauma of institutionalised personality in China through reference to the standardised figures of the Terracotta Army. Leilei has travelled widely across Britain producing ink drawings and sketches that display a lyrical, contemplative response to the natural world, revealing his sensitivity towards the British pastoral landscape and its changeable weather, ‘combining rural tranquility with an unsettled, ever-changing climate’ (University of Oxford website). Leilei also produces ceramics, some of which have been collected by the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), London. Leilei has been the President of the Chinese Brush Painters' Society in the UK which was established in January 1988. He has also lectured in classic and modern Chinese Art at the British Museum, V&A, Royal Academy of Arts, University of London, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, among other venues. In 2008, his work was included in Modern Chinese Art: a New Generation, the second of two exhibitions held at Asia House London from Khoan and Michael Sullivans' unique collection of 20th century Chinese art. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford presented a solo exhibition of Leilei's work in 2017. Leilei currently lives and works in London. His work is represented in UK public collections including the British Museum and V&A, among others.