XU Lei, born in Nantong, Jiangsu, China in 1963, graduated from Nanjing Arts Institute in 1984, currently works at the Creation Research Centre of China Art Academy and lives in Beijing as the Art Director of Today Art Museum and the Editor-in-chief of “Classics” magazine. He is one of China’s most distinguished contemporary painters, with a refined style that has been described as both “noble and passive” by his fellow-artists.