国际酵母是艺术家参加2004年上海双年展时的作品, 巨幅的油画表现的是装着艺术家自己特制的颜料罐。当时的上海双年展是全中国为数不多的在国家美术馆内举办的国际当代艺术展。颜磊的油画同样作为心理暗喻的过程，表现艺术家当时希望自己的成功和影响力能够像发酵效应一般迅速到来的意愿，更是对当代艺术和艺术品市场能够像酵母一般膨胀起来的瞻望。
International Yeast is a work the artist contributed for the Shanghai Biennale in 2004. The painting prominently features specially mixed paint that the artist prepared himself. At the time, the Shanghai Biennale was held in the National Art Museum, one of the few places to hold international art exhibitions in China. In Yan Lei’s painting, the process of yeast fermentation is evoked as a metaphor to express the artist’s desire at the time: the wish for a similar accumulation of success and influence that would be realized just as quickly.
