Han Lei
Chang Sheng Dian, 2005

Han Lei
A Young Man from Chifeng, 2006

Han Lei
Ears of Monky and Ears of Strawberry, 2008

C5 Art is presenting [Swamp] - Han Lei’s Solo Exhibition in September, which features his new works of oil painting, photograph and installation. Swamp, the latest work by Han Lei, continues a subject he has mastered so well: the overlap and reflection of history and reality. This time, he makes the artwork step down from the frame and fits together real objects (or ready-made objects) so as to convey his idea about different spaces and time periods. Han Lei once stated: “these ready-made objects are what I abhorred. They have played a certain role in the past but the role endowed on them is unreal. You can even say that they are totally changed into something more superficial than they really are.” Hidden behind compounds of irrelevant objects is Han’s ambition to extend his art beyond the frame. Plenty of found objects are chosen to complete his personal brooding about history. Irrationality and sarcasm gradually stream out as history and now, to a certain degree, intercourse.

Han Lei
Junior holding a Puppet, 2007

Han Lei
A Girl in the Hair Salon, 2006

Han Lei
Profile of a fat Boy, 2004

Picking Flowers of Happiness in a Stranger’s Garden
-- About Swamp, a recent work by Han Lei
By Zheng Naiming

An old soul is hidden inside Han Lei.

This soul perpetually leads the artist to see a mundane world from a fresh perspective, through which history seems to carry bizarre sentiments. Although historical nostalgia is not the type of scenery that Han Lei intends to rely on, it enables him to see fantasy in reality and allows him to find his footing in the real world. In the dim light of history, two time periods, the past and the present, overlap. The oId in the past is replaced by the alter ego in the present, giving rise to sarcasm, irony, scorn and even traces of a gloom that are hard to dismiss.

Han Lei
A Girl in the Park, 2006

One of the main impressions left on me by Han Lei’s works is his use of color. Whether shot in color or black-and-white, his photos capture the shades of time. Brimming with time, the color is not smoky yellow, but dark, hinting at a gloomy mindset. Most of us tend to extract the coordinates of time periods in his works according to the subject. In my opinion, the subject matter is merely a vehicle rather than a set beginning for the elaboration of a story. All the subjects Han Lei chooses suggest that he is actually trying to sort out an approach towards time. His hesitation and bewilderment are dripping with remade scenes belonging to the past, a past that loses its old nature and seems ridiculously off-line for a modern artistic vehicle. As a well-known master of the subtle effect of displaced space-time, Han Lei now adds in ironic scorn and produces vivid and rich works that the transcend superficial ones made by those who try to rejuvenate dead materials. His artworks remind me of the slight pain of removing a scab.

Han Lei
Poster 

Under the circumstances of socialism, contemporary artists may share an anti-social impulse and a habit for mocking the political regime. However, artistic expression of this type is hard to be categorized as a type of long-term retrospection. Usually, it serves just as a record of evolution, for elements of space-time and circumstance matter too much in it. In the case of Han Lei, however, his artworks are never meant to be records of a certain experience. As I stated above, he tries to sort out a way to look at reality by making use of history. It is not because he could not comprehend reality but because it exceeds the human ability to imagine and accept different values in various phases as the background rapidly shifts. In a sense, the biggest social issue today is not those propagandized socialist focuses but a new value system that undergoes rapid materialization and reversal. This is shown more blankly in A Young man from Chifeng, a photo in 2006. Again, Han Lei chose as his model an ordinary man with a cold expression and dramatic strength. Dressed in a People’s Liberation Army uniform, and in spite of all the badges and medals he wears on his uniform, the young man stares out indifferently. On this boy, the decaying shadow and glory of history become like cheap marks that can be removed anytime. Within a different time and space, so-called ideals and great sentiments transform into a boldly ridiculous combination. The aloofness of the boy has undoubtedly catalyzed the displacement of old customs and new mindsets.

Han Lei
The Opposite Shadow, 2007

I appreciate the fact that Han Lei has lent a heart’s-eye view to the dialectic about old times, which reminds me of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince, one of my favorite novels. In this novel, the fox presented a most interesting remark to the little prince: you cannot see clearly unless with you look with the heart. What matters most cannot be seen with eyes. When it comes to Han Lei’s art, it makes great sense, too. Swamp, the latest work by the artist, continues a subject he has mastered so well: the overlap and reflection of history and reality. This time, he makes the artwork step down from the frame and fits together real objects (or ready-made objects) so as to convey his idea about different spaces and time periods. Han Lei once stated: “these ready-made objects are what I abhorred. They have played a certain role in the past but the role endowed on them is unreal. You can even say that they are totally changed into something more superficial than they really are.” About this remark, I would like to make clear one point. He mentioned that these ready-made objects were what he abhorred yet they had played a certain role in the past. In other words, objects listed by the artist are mundane items with social functions. No matter whether they appeared in his life or not, their looks and references make sense to him in that they can probably be interpreted in a new way once they break free from their former space and time.

Han Lei
One Ant and Five Flowers, 2008

For example, Han Lei adopted as an element the enlarger that he used a lot in the past. The enlarger was an apparatus that he used to rely on to blow up black-and-white photos. Its new role as raw material suggests that he may now have a different attitude towards black-and-white photography. In the face of the enlarger, now void of any real use, the viewer expects at least to appreciate its form. However, this precise machine is decorated with horribly vulgar plastic hairpins, plastic birds, wood inlaid with fake diamonds and a stethoscope. Han Lei told me that he used to calculate time by feeling his own heartbeats instead of using a timer when he enlarged a picture, and a stethoscope is designated to calculate heartbeats. When a stethoscope and an enlarger are grouped together, their consecutive references break up in no time. It’s a ridiculous picture. Meanwhile, the enlarger joined by vulgarly bright elements can be treated as a metaphor for one’s embarrassment when his or her original ideas are interfered with and ruined by reality. Han Lei is trying to relocate –- in a new space-time -- objects belonging to the past so that their old symbolic meanings can be dissolved. Moreover, numerous vulgar items, apparently in conflict, are scattered among them, reversing traditional aesthetics and polluting their purity. The artist is using machinery to voice his sorrows and his pains regarding the disadvantaged situation for art production. What is the use of a heartbeat if the stethoscope, designed for precise calculation, is abused? No matter how well an artist is equipped, his heart would stop lifeless if innocent conceptions of art are invaded by vulgarity. If that happens, the stethoscope becomes a blade ruthlessly cutting the heart open.

Han Lei
Peak That Flew Here, 2007

With ready-made objects, Han Lei continues with his photographic logic. Among other things, the viewer may nod with a smile about the social connotations implanted in these objects. Take his sharp work with nunchaku -– or nunchucks –- and also chord as raw material. Bruce Lee, the late Asian star, had played as a master of nunchucks in his movies, establishing the weapon’s mythological role as way to beat power. Jay Chow, sometimes referred to as the little heavenly king of Asian Pop music, had also released a hit entitled “Nunchaku”. This weapon is now used for formalized shows and even in a playful way. Such a sight will definitely ruin the long-held imagination of those who were willing to preserve it as part of a tradition. For the artist, nunchucks and chord used to have simple references but now he turns a compound of both into a singular symbol of social commotion. Furthermore, he adds in a gaudy, fanciful bird made of plastic, representing the prevailing mentality of tumult and deepening the sarcasm embodied in this artwork.

Han Lei
Puppets, 2008

In another instance, Han Lei combines the sculpture of a stunt man performing a headstand on one hand and a watch in which Chairman Mao can be seen waving with the spring wound. After the artist manipulates them, two ready-made objects, seemingly irreconcilable, radiate with irony. After all, in certain circumstances, aren’t political figures similar to stunt men in their intention to catch the public eye? Does such a circumstance promise any truth? Probably not. In Puppet, another installation of ready-made objects, a ship propeller is made new and brilliant. On its top are ornaments of vulgar accessories. The propeller strikes the audience as visually unharmonious. Besides, a photo is hung on the wall behind, featuring a fat boy with a puppet on his hand. Once again, a cold hard prop is used to suggest the domination of artificial manipulation. Hidden behind compounds of irrelevant objects is Han’s ambition to extend his art beyond the frame. Plenty of found objects are chosen to complete his personal brooding about history. Irrationality and sarcasm gradually stream out as history and now, to a certain degree, intercourse. Intriguingly, all of the chosen ready-made objects fit traditional aesthetics. When they walk out of their own backgrounds, however, their qualities of old days begin to disappear, an action that undoubtedly strikes the artist as vivid, wonderful, disgusting yet extremely exciting.

Han Lei
Three Snake Girls, 2008

Similarly, Han Lei’s easel art conveys an atmosphere of the times analogous to his installations of found objects. Comparatively speaking, the former seems to return to the format of 1950s and 1960s landscape photography or paintings from even earlier period that were made for export. Within this borrowed framework, Han Lei refers to ink-painting techniques and billboards, and he produces an effect similar to that of template painting during the Cultural Revolution. In dealing with content, Han Lei applies heavy dark colors on populous patterns and terms, showing that time could bury any life, in its heyday or not, just as the marsh does. In comparison with installation, Han Lei’s easel art has a more distinctive narrative character. In terms of visual expression, it boasts perfect foreshadowing. Besides, its plot is more complete while installation of found objects tends to be powerless in the absence of visual weight. Despite all this, Han Lei’s installation-combines enable the audience to comprehend the alienation he felt about history, which, on the other hand, extends the capacity of the medium and gives us access to Han Lei’s unique perspective of spaces.

Han Lei
Pagodas of Han Lei, 2006

Of course, Han Lei’s art does not cling to nostalgia. From Kaifeng in Henan province, to Beijing, what is measurable is a distance in terms of space. But as time flows by, the artist’s inner reactions –- in the face of crumbling values –- denies measurement. Mental ordeals in the process of environmental alienation may have enabled the artist to direct his own view inward towards time, both old and new, and towards the impact from outside. It also explains why his artworks give out a light sense of sorrow, attributed to his personal experiences and to his regret about a lost paradise. He is able to see the tricks played by time on emotional beings in this age and its power to make shallow what could have been deepened. As the environment evolves, eternity has become an obstacle that can no way be justified, for even oceans are drying out and stones are rotting. How can one pluck the flower of contentment from a stranger’s garden? In the work of Han Lei, loneliness strikes a sharp pose.

Han Lei
Pan Jinlian who performs a Rabbit Girl, 2007

Han Lei
The naked Ma Lan, 2008

C5 Art. No. 5 Xi Wu Street, San Li Tun - Chayang District - 100027  Beijing, China - Tél.: +86 10 64603950 -  Fax: +86 10 64603951 - www.c5art.com

Exhibition Period: 22nd September, 2008 – 26th October, 2008. Opening Reception: 21st September, 2008 / Sunday / 8pm – 11pm