Xu Lei was born in Nantong, Jiangsu Province in 1963. He was trained at the Nanjing Art Academy and became a resident painter at the Jiangsu Institute of Chinese Painting upon graduation. Xu was an active participant in the New Wave movement and his work was exhibited in the China/Avant-Garde Exhibition in Beijing in 1989.

Xu's choice of colour palette strikes viewers in their first impression. With refined and restrained gongbi technique, Xu portrays his subject, often animals, in a realistic manner, set against mysterious backdrops such as water, curtain and screen. He constructs a fantastical spatial dimension that gives a domestic and estranged context, alluring viewers to imagine the r...