Biography
Xie Lei (b. 1983) is a Parisian-based contemporary painter known for his phenomenological compositions—textured, somber yet luminous—of worlds in-between.
Education
2012-2016 practice-based PhD in Visual arts (Very Honorable with unanimous Jury Congratulations) Beaux-Arts de Paris and Ecole normale supérieure (PSL)
2014 Painting Research Programme, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2006–2010 MA (Jury Honours), Beaux-Arts de Paris
2002–2006 BA, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
Awards
2016 Prix Fondation Colas, Boulogne-Billancourt
2012 Prix Alphonse Cellier, Institut de France, Paris
2011 Prix Nicolas Feuilliate
2010 Bourse de la Mairie de Paris pour l’art contemporain, Paris
2008 Bourse Colin-Lefrancq, Hunter College, New York
2003 Drawing Award CAFA
Public collections
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Madrid Albertina Museum, Vienna Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL), Vitre-sur-Seine Fondation Colas, Boulogne-Billancourt Casa de Velázquez, Madrid Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne, Château de Rochechouart, Rochechouart Burger Collection, Hong Kong/Zürich Rennie Museum, Vancouver X Museum, Beijing
Solo Exhibitions
- Désarroi, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
- Mort heureuse, Semiose, Paris
- Nachtgesänge, Caprii, Düsseldorf
- Fleur de Peau, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels
- Au-delà, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
- Nachleben, Kandlhofer, Vienna
- Victim, Lyles & King, New York
- Chant d’Amour, Semiose, Paris
- Secret, flatmarkus, Zurich
- Itinérance, Institut de France, Paris
- Slumbers, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels
- Xie Lei, Christopher Orr, HdM Gallery, London
- Xie Lei, Z Gallery Arts, Vancouver
- Walden II, Yima Gallery, Chengdu
- Poe’s Garden, Z Gallery Arts, Vancouver
- Xie Lei – Sans rivage, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Xie Lei – Murmur, Grenier du Chapître, Cahors
- Sortilège et diableries : l’inquiètant ordinaire, Château d’Ardelay, Les Herbiers
- Xie Lei, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Everything And Nothing, Feast Projects, Hong Kong
- Xie Lei – Chimères, Fondation Yishu 8, Beijing
- Xie Lei, Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva
- Xie Lei – Destination, Feast Projects, Hong Kong
- Xie Lei, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Enter At Own Risk, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
Group Exhibitions
- La vie climatique, MAC Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseille, France
- Plants & People, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou
- BEYOND POLITICAL LIMITS Chapter 3. Can The Monster Speak?, RADIUS CCA, Delft
- The self as multiple, MACAM, Lisboa
- Natural Mystics, The Warehouse, Dallas
- Prix Marcel Duchamp 2025, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris
- FIRE, Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, Brussels
- Twinning, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco
- VISIONS OF THE WORLD, Museum Kampa, Prague
- Apocalypse, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
- Sur tes lèvres, Lieu Unique and FRAC des pays de la Loire, Nantes
- Une Chambre à Soi, Château La Cost, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade
- Absences, mues et macules, L'Atlas galerie des mondes, Paris
- Second Nature, Semiose, Paris
- X Collection 202: Portrait of a Man, X Museum, Beijing
- Eighteen Painters, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
- La Vie Liquide, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Chateau de Rochechouart, Rochechouart
- Formes de la ruine, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon
- Bodies of Resistance, Pedro Cera, Lisbon
- Yuen-Yeung, K11, Shanghai
- Les Nuits d’été, Villa Noailles, Hyères
- Crossing Frontiers, Foundation Nassima Landau,, Tel Aviv
- Sonámbulo, Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid
- Antéfutur, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux
- Immortelle, MO.CO, Montpellier
- Close, GRIMM, London
- Eulogy of Nothing, A Tribute to Christian Bobin, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels
- Viva Villa, curated by Victorine Grataloup, Stéphane Ibars, Collection Lambert, Avignon
- Prendre soin. Restaurer, réparer, de la Renaissance à nos jours, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, Dole
- En Soi et Au-delà, curated by María Santoyo, Institut Français, Madrid
- Raw, curated by Daniel Lippitsch, Vacancy, Shanghai
- Machines of Desire, curated by Kat Sapera, Emilia Yin, Simon Lee Gallery, London
- The Tale Their Terror Tells, curated by Geena Brown, Lauren Guilford, Lyles & King, New York
- An extraordinary adventure: 8 Chinese artists and the UK, curated by Lu Chao, Gallery Rosenfeld, London
- Futuros Abundantes, Works from the TBA21 Collection, curated by Daniela Zyman, C3A Centro de creación contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba
- Itinérance, curated by Virginie Bourget, Beaux-arts de Nantes, Nantes
- Atlas of Affinities: The Far-Near, HUA International, Berlin
- Mist & Thunder, curated by Àngels Miralda, Sally’s Fault, Amsterdam
- The Hearing Trumpet, curated by Danielle Shang, Marguo, Paris
- Mouthed Echoes, Lyles & King, New York
- Traverser les silences, curated by Thomas Fort, Editions Dilecta, Paris
- Male Nudes: a salon from 1800 to 2021, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo
- Incipit, Cruce arte y pensamiento contemporáneo, Madrid
- Itinérance, Casa de Velázquez, French Academy, Madrid
- BRAFA in the Galleries, Meessen de Clercq, Brussels
- Laberinto del ramaje, Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid
- Descripción de un estado físico, curated by Pepe Suárez, Schneider Colao – Galería Elba Benitez, Madrid
- Much Without Many, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels
- Flesh And Bone, curated by Loïc Le Gall and Justin Polera, PS120, Berlin
- Flesh And Bone, curated by Loïc Le Gall and Justin Polera, PS120, Berlin
- Persona Grata?, curated by Alexia Fabre, Anne-Laure Flacelière and Ingrid Jurzak, MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine
- Yellow Reflection, Galerie Liusa Wang, Paris
- Couleurs de la Chine Contemporaine, Musée Saint-Remi, Reims
- How To See [What Isn’t There], curated by Gianni Jetzer, Langen Foundation, Neuss
- Persona Grata, curated by Anne-Laure Flacelière and Isabelle Renard, Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris
- Group Show Moulin Joly, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Collection David H. Brolliet – Geneva, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Saint-Louis
- Nouvelles acquisitions, Fondation Colas, Boulogne
- Who Cares?, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Utopie Picturale 3, FORMA Art contemporain & cabinet d’expertise, Lausanne
- Memo II, White Space, Beijing
- Utopie Picturale 2, Fonderie Kugler, Geneva
- Picturalités Singulières, Chateau d’Assas, Le Vigan
- Utopie Picturale, Villa Dutoit, Geneva
- Ca grimpe, Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva
- 1912-2012 France – Chine, un siècle de dialogue, Fondation Yishu8, Beijing
- Visage et Portrait, Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva
- Tranches de carrés sur tranches de cercles, Saline Royale, Arc-et-Senans
- Accrochage, Feast Projects, Hong Kong
- Résonance/Dissonance, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Le Vent d’après, curated by Jean de Loisy and Ulla von Brandenburg, Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
- Ligne de Chance, curated by François Bouillon and Bernard Moninot, Fondation Ricard, Paris
- Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
- Shcontemporary, Marlborough Gallery, Shanghai
- Institut de France, Paris
- Marlborough Gallery, New York
- Galerie Serge Aboukrat, Paris
- Salon de Montrouge, Paris
- Dessine moi un…, Galerie Serge Aboukrat, Paris
- Back to Canvas, the Poetry Between Abstract and Imagism, Amelie Art Gallery, Beijing
- Shi Tang Arts Space, Beijing