Yue Minjun's paintings offer a light-hearted approach
to philosophical enquiry and contemplation of existence. Drawing connotations to
the disparate images of the Laughing Buddha and the inane gap toothed grin of
Alfred E. Newman, Yue's self-portraits have been describe by theorist Li
Xianting as "a self-ironic response to the spiritual vacuum and folly of
modern-day China. The Paintings, sculptures and installations of Yue Minjun
always feature uniform laughing faces. And if these laughing faces are observed
carefully, it will be noticed that these faces are the face of Yue Minjun.
The acidic tones and commercialized vacuity of his works are used to underscore
the insincerity of his figures' mirth. As both antagonists and anti-heroes,
Yue's hysterical cohorts equally bully the viewer and stand as subjects of
ridicule. Using laughter as a denotation of violence and vulnerability, Yue's
paintings balance a zeitgeist of modern day anxiety with an Eastern
philosophical ethos, positing the response to the true nature of reality as an
endless cynical guffaw.Yue Minjun presents various realities that emerge as the
background behind the laughing visages. These realities emerge through various
easy to recognize symbols, metaphors and signs, or through depictions of daily
life. The laughing faces and the representations of reality in Yue Minjun's
works are closely related. And this relationship shows Yue Minjun's fairly easy
to read cynicism in confrontation with reality.
Can the works of Yue Minjun be said to be self-portraits? Does his artwork
present any insight into the conflict between individuality and collectivism?
Does his work indicate self-identification that represents the pressing of the
self-identity into a collective existence? Of the many questions that arise,
this is The mose basic: Can the meaning of Yue Minjun's self-portraits be
categorized as auratic or post-auratic Within the development of modern art, the
search for reality through representation has been fully deter-mined by the
relationship between the individual absolute and reality. Yue subverts the
grandiose aura of art history through his adaptation of pop aesthetics.
Selected Exhibitions- 2004 * Yue Minjun: Sculptures And Paintings, Schoeni Art
Gallery, Hong Kong 2003 * Yue Minjun: Beijing Ironicals, Prüss & Ochs Gallery,
Berlin, Germany * Yue Minjun, Meile Gallery, Switzerland 2002 * Soaking In Silly
Laughter: One Of Art Singapore 2002, Soobin Art Gallery, Singapore * Yue Minjun:
Handling, One World Art Center, China 2000 * Red Ocean: Yue Minjun, Chinese
Contemporary, London, Uk
Conclusions: Yue Minjun's paintings offer a light-hearted approach to
philosophical enquiry and contemplation of existence. The laughing faces and the
representations of reality in Yue Minjun's works are closely related.
About the Author
Yue Minjun always feature uniform laughing faces. And if these laughing faces are observed carefully, it will be noticed that these faces are the face of Yue Minjun.Yue Minjun. View art work,selected exhibitions and paintings of artist Yue Minjun at The Saatchi Gallery - London contemporary art gallery
One of his famous artwork