Han Lei, Chinese Mole, 2003

Oil on canvas 
140 x 119.5 cm
Condition: Very good

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Beijing based artist Han Lei (b. 1967, China) is credited as a pioneer of the Chinese photography that emerged after the Cultural Revolution, having graduated from the Central Academy of Art and Design. During the late 1980s, Han documented village life in his hometown of Kaifeng, Henan. He subsequently developed an expansive and complex artistic practice working across media including sculpture, installation, and painting. 

Han is particularly interested in exploring contemporary notions of beauty, classical literary figures, and traditional Chinese arts. In the early 2000s, he created a series of highly evocative photographs and paintings which captured and depicted non-conventional forms of beauty eg. the robust, corpulent female form and beauty marks/moles. These striking images subvert culturally-prescribed perceptions of physical attractiveness, emphasising the individuality and agency of his models – ordinary women with imperfect bodies rather than idealised beauties.

(Photographed in December 2023)