Fictional Portraits 02 2002

The overwhelming mood in Han Lei’s work is nostalgia. In nostalgia Han Lei finds timelessness. He loves images that freeze mobility, images that become immutable and lasting representatives. He presents us with the typical misty Chinese mountain we imagine from our knowledge of classical paintings, he seeks out the beautiful female profile we seem to remember from old photographs. While the camera is a most democratic instrument, equitable in granting significance to any living moment, Han Lei has used this instrument to create a hierarchy of types. He is interested in images that can be greater, more permanent and more typical than other images of their class. With these images Han constructs a world that bring alive an order and an aesthetic that is both familiar and distant in time.
 
Chang Tsong-zung