Artwork Description

Title:Color Wheel

Artist:
Yan Lei

Date:
2005

Medium:
Oil painting

Dimensions:
300 × 300 cm (118.1 × 118.1 in)

Artwork Identification:
This monumental Color Wheel by Yan Lei is an oil painting of striking scale and meditative clarity, measuring 300 by 300. Composed of translucent concentric rings, the piece radiates soft hues of pale blue, pink, yellow, and light teal. The color transitions are expertly rendered, creating a seamless gradient effect that glows from a near-white center and gently fades toward the edges. The brushwork is delicate and controlled, producing a diaphanous, almost atmospheric layering of pastel tones over a stark white background. The result is a composition that feels both expansive and serene.

Artistic Style and Influences:
The painting reflects Yan Lei’s signature engagement with abstract minimalism and optical nuance. The pastel palette and perfect symmetry recall traditions of color field painting and the spiritual abstraction of artists like James Turrell and Agnes Martin, yet it is distinctively rooted in Yan Lei’s conceptual interrogation of image, repetition, and visual purity. The circular format reinforces ideas of wholeness, continuity, and infinite variation, drawing subtle parallels to Buddhist mandalas and notions of cyclical temporality. Through its visual softness, the work evokes a contemplative stillness that belies its monumental physical presence.

Historical Context:
As a central figure in China’s post-1990s contemporary art discourse, Yan Lei has developed a body of work that challenges notions of image saturation, standardization, and the commodification of visual experience. Color Wheel, while abstract, remains deeply conceptual—suggesting a systematic, almost algorithmic exploration of chromatic harmony. In an age dominated by high-speed consumption of images, this work invites slowness and reflection. Created during a period when abstraction has re-emerged as a global language of transcendence, the painting speaks both to digital-age aesthetics and to timeless artistic concerns.

Provenance and Authenticity:
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation:
The painting is in outstanding condition. The paint surface is smooth and unbroken, with no visible signs of wear, restoration, or fading. No conservation work is necessary at this time.

Artistic Significance:
This iteration of Color Wheel stands as a commanding testament to Yan Lei’s continued exploration of color, form, and visual psychology. Its sheer scale and chromatic refinement distinguish it within the artist’s body of work and mark it as a prime example of contemplative abstraction in 21st-century Chinese art. The work holds significant appeal for collectors attuned to minimalist aesthetics, optical experience, and conceptual rigor, and it confirms Yan Lei’s ongoing relevance in both Asian and global contemporary art markets.