Han Lei

The overwhelming mood in Han Lei’s work is nostalgia. In nostalgia Han Lei finds timelessness. He loves images that freeze mobility, images that become immutable and lasting representatives. He presents us with the typical misty Chinese mountain we imagine from our knowledge of classical paintings, he seeks out the beautiful female profile we seem to remember from old photographs. While the camera is a most democratic instrument, equitable in granting significance to any living moment, Han Lei has used this instrument to create a hierarchy of types. He is interested in images that can be greater, more permanent and more typical than other images of their class. With these images Han constructs a world that bring alive an order and an aesthetic that is both familiar and distant in time.
 
Chang Tsong-zung

Solo Exhibitions

2005	Portraits, galerie polaris, Paris, France
	Killing legend, 798 photo Gallery, Beijing, China
2004	Han Lei photographs, art scene china, Shanghai, China
2003	Strange, aura gallery, Shanghai, China
2001	Fictional landscape, Beijing, China
1997	Alienation, Hippolyte gallery, Helsinki, Finland
	Podwell gallery, Berlin, Germany

Group Exhibitions

2005	Viewing the city, Guangzhou Photo Biennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, China
2004	Forbidden City international photography exhibition, Beijing,China
	Intersection: contemporary oil painting and photography, chambers fine art, New York, U.S.A.
2003	From China: contemporary Chinese photography, gallery image,Denmark
	A strange heaven: contemporary Chinese photography, the nationalart museum, Prague, Czech Republic
	Tempo di donne, sala gatti, Viterbo, Italy
	Rome photography festival, Rome, Italy
2002	Dialogue: beautiful and tragic, two Spanish photographers and two Chinese photographers, capital museum, Beijing, China
	Golden harvest: Chinese contemporary art, Croatia national museum, Croatia
	Facing reality:Photographs of Han Lei, Wang Shilong and Zhang Hai’er, China art archives & warehouse, Beijing, China
2001	1:1? The 3rd Ping Yao international photography festival, Ping Yao,China
	Disorientation: photography and video in China today, chambers fine art, New York, U.S.A.
2000	Cities of the 21st century: Siemens cultural program, Frankfurt, Germany; New York, U.S.A.
1999	A visible spirit: contemporary photography from the People’s Republic of China, Cypress college photography galleries, California, U.S.A.
1998	Railways and people: the 1998 Mother Jones international fund for documentary photography awards, art center and studio gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A.
1996	China: aktuelles aus 15 ateliers, Reithalle, Munich, Germany
1995	International art festival of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
1994	Contemporary photography from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Hong Kong arts centre, Hong Kong, China
1993	The 6th rodez photofolies festival, Aveyron, France