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M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong. By donation, © Yan Lei
Yan Lei 顏磊
Superlight—No U-turn Superlight──不許掉頭
2004
This black-and-white acrylic painting is based on a photograph taken during the 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition in Beijing. In front of the entrance of the National Art Museum of China, a policeman in a long coat and fur hat holds the arm of participating artist Tang Song. They are seen on a black carpet with a large ‘No U-turn’ logo, an emblem of the participating artists’ desire for the reforms in China during the 1980s to move forward without turning back. Two officers and onlookers can be seen in the background. The painting has distinct areas of grey tones, and the subjects appear slightly blurred. Yan Lei’s practice encompasses video, photography, and painting, which all begin from photographs. For his painted canvases, he analyses and manipulates photographs digitally before painting the scenes, giving them a sense of artificiality. Untitled (No U-turn 1989) makes reference to the unprecedented exhibition of experimental works by a national art institution in China. The exhibition was temporarily shut down twice. The conflict between artistic freedom and institutional control is often reflected in Yan’s work, frequently in the context of China’s place in the global art world.
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