Yan Pei-Ming - The Pope, 2013 - Handsigned lithograph

Yan Pei-Ming : An artist from Dijon of Chinese origin, he has a diploma from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Dijon in 1986. An internationally reknown artist, he has been awarded the Grand Prix de Rome in 1993. However, the artist has not always benefited from this level of fame. Born in Shangai in 1960, his father worked in a slaughterhouse while his mother was a worker in a bottle gourd factory. His creativity and drawing skills were very quickly revealed since has produced propaganda works for the Chinese Regime. Following his arrival in Dijon, he worked as a dish-washer in a restaurant and started his studies at the Beaux-Arts. A resident at the Villa Medicis in 1993, he conceived a monumental artwork composed of portraits or his circle of acquaintances in Rome as well as those of visitors he hosted. Named professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Dijon in 1995, he worked there for a decade before finally devoting himself entirely to his artistic career. Yan Pei-Ming works with a restrainted colour palette of essentially black and white with occasional vermillion. His spontaneous sense of gesture and seemingly confident lines give birth to floating, almost melancholic representations. A portrait artist of his time, he has created a portrait of Mao which led to his fame. From Bruce Lee and members of his family to events on the scale of 9/11 and self-portraiture, the artist of great monochromes is constantly expanding his gallery.