Chen Yifei

b. 1946, Zhenhai, Zhejiang

Artist

The artist Chen Yifei has evolved from a painter into a genuine cultural entrepreneur. Chen graduated from the Shanghai Painting Academy in 1965. In the years following, he specialized in Socialist Realist oil painting. Many of the paintings he produced in the 1970s initially met with official criticism, but as an indication of their later acceptance have been included in various national collections. Chen studied at Hunter College (New York) in 1981, and held a number of one-man exhibitions in the USA in the 1980s where his works fetched high prices.

Although still painting, Chen has become active in other cultural sectors through his Yifei Group. His motion picture, Evening Liaison, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival (1995), where it received special recognition. In 1999, Chen launched a clothing brand named Leyefe (or Layefe), which evolved into a trendy fashion store with more than 162 branches nationwide. A year later, he set up home furnishing outlets in Shanghai and Beijing (see clothing industry). He acted as manager for several successful Chinese fashion models and was the modelling coach for Zhuo Ling, Miss China 2002 (see fashion shows and modelling).

Chen was the brain behind, and one of the financial backers of, China’s thickest fashion magazine, Vision Magazine, which was sponsored by China Youth Magazine under the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. The first issue of the monthly, weighing two kilograms and numbering more than 400 pages, carried articles on art, fashion, cosmetics and technology. It was published in December 2001 (see beauty magazines).

STEFAN LANDSBERGER