ue Minjun should be smiling. He has moved up into the top ranks of the Chinese contemporary art world and his colorful self-portraits of exaggerated, wide-toothed laughter now sell for over $100,000 a piece.
“The spirit of this series is concerned with searching, seeking something; people are looking for something,” he says.”I chose terrorism because right now the whole world is looking for terrorists. And terrorism is a global topic that everyone can identify with.”
The departure may simply be a way of injecting something different into his prolific repertoire of self-portraits, even though they remain popular on the international circuit.
But any Yue Minjun work is sure to be colorful, ironic, and deceptive, just like Yue Minjun – the man who seems to always wear a mask of quiet seriousness. And it’s that seriousness of purpose – that stubborn single-mindedness – that has brought Yue Minjun out of the shadows in recent years.
Oil on canvas
1962 Born in Daqing, Heilongjiang province
1968 Moved to Beijing
1979 Worked as an electrician, Ocean Oil Company, Tianjin
1983 Graduated form Hebei Normal University, oil painting department
1996 Designed “Redstar” watch for the Spring 1996 Collection of
Swatch Artists’ Collection Watches
Currently living and working in Beijing, China
Solo Exhibitions
2007
Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
Looking for Art, Beijing Commune, Beijing
2006
The Reproduction of Idols: Yue Minjun, 2004-2006, Hexiang Ning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Looking for Terrorists, Beijing Commune, Beijing
2005
Post Auratic Self Portrayal of Yue Minjun, CP Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia
2004
Yue Minjun: Sculptures & Paintings, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
Yue Minjun: Beijing Ironicals, PrŸss & Ochs Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2003
Beijing Ironicals, Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin
Yue Minjun, Meile Gallery, Switzerland
2000
Red Ocean, Chinese Contemporary, London
1997
Klaus Littmann Gallery, Basel
