Yan Pei Ming  (Chinese, 1960) 

Yan Pei-Ming (Chinese, b.1960) is a painter most known for his epic-sized portraits of Mao Zedong, finished with large expressive brushstrokes and sparse use of color. Born in Shanghai during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Yan took up painting as a hobby, later applying to the Shanghai Art and Design School, where he was rejected because of a speech impediment. Yan moved to France at the age of 20, and shortly thereafter enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After graduating in 1999, Yan’s achieved rapid notoriety for his massive portraits of celebrities, including Rupert Murdoch, Bruce Lee, and the artist Maurizio Cattelan. Yan’s work was included in the 2003 Venice Biennale, where his work gained an international audience, foreshadowing the recent acquisition of his work by the Louvre in 2009.