Yue Minjun and 'the Symbolic Smile' solos at the Queens Museum of Art

Written by Jolene Carstairs Wednesday, 07 December 2011 23:20

Queens, NY - Yue Minjun’s first museum show in the U.S. opened at the Queens Museum of Art on October 14, 2007. One of the self-styled, Beijing-based artists who emerged in the early 1990’s, Yue Minjun has since gained international recognition. Yue Minjun has successfully parlayed his iconic smiling self-portrait into his signature motif, and is widely considered a pioneering figure in Chinese contemporary art.

Yue’s laughing faces are at once exuberant and eerie. Placed against various recognizable backdrops, the tirelessly optimistic faces compel the viewer to question the larger social context portrayed in each painting.

Yue Minjun began his career as a founding member of the “Cynical Realism” school. This group emerged in the early 1990’s, in the wake of the Tiananmen Square incident and the subsequent crackdown on artistic freedom imposed by the Chinese government. From the founding of the PRC in 1949, through the decade long Cultural Revolution that ended in 1976 with the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, art was solely created to promote Communist Party ideology. All of China’s artistic production was framed by a system of government-imposed directives.

In the current art world, Yue Minjun and his renowned contemporaries, including artists Zhang Xiaogang and Fang Lijun, are making artworks that reflect a social consciousness relevant to China’s changing political and economic climate. China’s avant-garde artists, many of whom are based in Beijing’s booming art scene, enjoy a surprising degree of creative liberty in utilizing parody and critique to comment on the state of their country. The attention these artists have received from the West also makes them less vulnerable to censorship by the central government.

Yue Minjun’s laughing faces convey the paradox of present-day China. The jubilant expressions depicted on the hearty faces of cloned figures make us wonder about the reality under the toothsome smile. The backgrounds depicted, from a stoic Tiananmen Square to a teeming nuclear mushroom cloud, also allude to the shifting realities of contemporary China. The seemingly cheerful demeanor of these figures suggests an attempt to cope with the country’s complexities. Yue Minjun’s work begs the question: what is truly joyful?

The key to decoding these enigmatic portrayals may lie in the rich cultural tradition that has influenced this artist from the Mainland. Yue’s laughing faces recall the “Buddha of the Future,” a welcoming figure located at the entrance of countless Buddhist temples throughout China. While his beaming faces bespeak contemporary concerns, they also implore an optimistic future.

Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile at the Queens Museum of Art will include bronze and polychrome sculptures, paintings and drawings and will be on view through January 6, 2008. The show will be accompanied by a smaller-scale exhibition of the artist’s watercolors entitled, YUE MINJUN “I Love Laughing,” at the Asia Society. The 6 watercolors that present a softer side of the artist’s oeuvre will be on display at the Asia Society in New York City through January 2, 2008. For more information, please contact Jennifer Suh at 212-327-9273 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.Asiasociety.org.

ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT

The Queens Museum of Art is housed in the New York City Building, which is owned by the City of New York. With the assistance of the Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and the New York City Council, the Museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature. Major funding is also provided by corporate and foundation supporters, QMA’s Board of Directors and members.

The Queens Museum of Art was established in 1972 to provide a vital cultural center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the borough’s unique, international population. Today it is home to the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335 square foot scale model of the five boroughs, and features temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that reflect the cultural diversity of Queens, as well as a collection of Tiffany glass from the Neustadt Museum of Tiffany Art. The Museum provides valuable educational outreach through a number of programs geared toward schoolchildren, teens, families, seniors and individuals with physical and mental disabilities. For general visitor information, please visit the Museum’s website www.queensmuseum.org or call 718.592.9700.

Asia Society is the leading global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States. We seek to enhance dialogue, encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of policy, business, education, arts, and culture. Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonprofit educational institution with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Washington, DC. Asia Society and Museum - 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York City.