Throughout the summer at OCAT Personal Space is dedicated to the work of the young Beijing-based animation artist Lei Lei, and to the premiere of his latest moving image project Coming Soon. A feature-length animation, Coming Soon is the result of five years of hard work beginning in 2012. This stunning hand-crafted work of moving image takes its narrative from the life-story of Lei Lei’s grandfather Lei Ting. Combining drawing, collage, archival film and photos as well as footage of Lei Lei’s grandfather, Coming Soon is a remarkable feat of research and imagination, as the artist explores a complex historic era through the eyes of his generation and his own singular perspective. Both Lei Ting and Lei Lei’s father, Lei Jiaqi, were involved in this animation’s production, which lends the piece a subtle intimacy and great emotional force.

OCAT Xi’an would like to thank Star Gallery, Beijing, for help with Lei Lei’s project, and thanks also goes to VART online platform, who made the audio guide system for the exhibition.

雷磊，《进行中》，影像截图，2017
Lei Lei, “Coming Soon”, film still, 2017

About the Artist

Lei Lei was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi in 1985. Graduated from Academy of Art Design in Tsinghua University with a BA. As an independent artist in multimedia and animation, he also involved in on graphic design, illustration, short cartoon, graffiti and music. Lei Lei began to participate in film festivals and group exhibitions both here and aboard since 2007. His solo exhibition Coming Soon was presented in Star Gallery, Beijing, 2014; A One-man’s Animation Film Studio (2016) was presented in Hao space, GENESIS Beijing, Beijing, China. Currently he lives and works in Beijing.

雷磊，《进行中》，影像截图，2017
Lei Lei, “Coming Soon”, film still, 2017

雷磊，《进行中》，影像截图，2017
Lei Lei, “Coming Soon”, film still, 2017