XIE LEI

Early Years and Background

Raised in Huainan, Anhui province, Xie Lei studied painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing before relocating to Paris in 2006. He completed further studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, followed by a doctorate focused on practice-based visual arts. Today, Xie lives and works in Paris, while also maintaining links to exhibition projects in Asia and Europe.

Xie Lei’s Artworks

Xie Lei’s practice delves into ambiguous psychic territories, using oil on canvas to produce atmospheric works where human and natural forms float between states—dream and wakefulness, presence and absence. Drawing on references from literature, cinema, and memory, his spectral figures and haunting landscapes invite multiple interpretations. Colour is deployed for psychological impact; his signature greens, blues, and yellows dissolve physical boundaries, suggesting transformation or rebirth rather than fixed identity.

For the 2025 Prix Marcel Duchamp, Xie unveiled seven large-scale, fluorescent green paintings that evoke states of ‘free fall’—bodies and silhouettes poised between flight and gravity. These canvases, exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, extend his fascination with the ‘poetics of the strange’, blending personal reverie with universal themes of mortality and transformation.

Xie Lei’s Exhibition Highlights

Xie Lei has staged solo exhibitions internationally, with important shows at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), Yishu 8 (Beijing), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Paris), Z Gallery Arts (Vancouver), and Fondation d’entreprise Ricard (Paris). He is also a frequent participant in major group exhibitions, including “Persona Grata” at MAC VAL and Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration (Paris); “How to See [What Isn’t There]”, Langen Foundation (Neuss); and “Natural Mystics”, The Warehouse Dallas Art Foundation (Dallas).

Select Awards and Accolades

• Prix Marcel Duchamp, 2025
• Fondation Colas Prize, 2016
• Alphonse Cellier Prize, 2012

Select Solo Exhibitions

• 2023/4: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
• 2019: Z Gallery Arts, Vancouver
• 2016: Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
• 2012: Yishu 8, Beijing

Select Group Exhibitions

• 2025: Prix Marcel Duchamp, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris
• 2024: Eighteen Painters, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
• “How to See [What Isn’t There]”, Langen Foundation, Neuss
• “Persona Grata”, MAC VAL/Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration, Paris

Website and Instagram

Xie Lei’s website: xie-lei.com
Instagram: @xie.lei

Xie Lei FAQs

Ocula | 2025