Artists › Yue Minjun › Biography - Exhibitions
Biography of Yue Minjun
Yue Minjun was Born in Daqing, Hei Long Jiang province, China in 1962. In 1968 he moved to Beijing and in 1979 he worked as an electrician in the Ocean Oil Company in Tianjin.
Education
The artist graduated from Hebei Normal University, oil painting department in 1983. Yue Minjun designed Redstar watch for The Artist Collection of Swatch Watches in 1996.
Yue Minjun, with Fang Lijun, is one of the most important Beijing-based artists of the Chinese avant garde. He is part of the key movement of the post-1989 era in Chinese avant garde art - Cynical Realism. Cynical Realism developed in the aftermath of the events of 1989 which included not only the demonstrations at Tiananmen Square but also the closure earlier that year of the China Avant Garde exhibition at the China National Gallery in Beijing by the authorities.
Influences
As the 1980s were characterized by great idealism and hope in the artistic community that they would be able to contribute to the regeneration of Chinese culture, the 1990s were characterized by a loss of idealism, a more ironical or personal viewpoint and a greater detachment from any regeneration of society or culture.
Yue Minjun works are instantly recognizable by the characteristic laughing figure, actually the artist himself, depicted in various guises in virtually all his works. The figure has more teeth than one could possibly want, like the expensive smiles of fashion models advertising the latest whitening power of a toothpaste brand. This figure also shares the exaggerated nature of these advertising images. Yue Minjun trademark smile is many things at once. It is hilarious and infectious yet cynical and mocking. It appears superficial, mindless, even ridiculous but is deeply revealing and compelling.
There are instant parallels to be drawn with the Social Realist propaganda posters of earlier eras of communism. There are the bright colors, the intense enthusiasm in the expressions of the figures and the implied joy and total fulfillment if one adopts the message of the poster/painting as one own mission.
Yue Minjun was selected by Harald Szeemann for the 1999 Venice Biennale. In May 2000 Chinese Contemporary gave Yue Minjun his first solo exhibition ever.
Exhibitions of Yue Minjun
Solo Exhibitions:
2004
- Yue Min Jun: Sculptures And Paintings, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2003
- Yue Min Jun: Beijing Ironicals, Prüss & Ochs Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Yue Min Jun, Meile Gallery, Switzerland
2002
- Soaking In Silly Laughter: One Of Art Singapore 2002, Soobin Art Gallery,Singapore
- Yue Min Jun: Handling, One World Art Center, China
2000
- Red Ocean: Yue Min Jun, Chinese Contemporary, London, Uk
Group Exhibitions:
2004
- Guangju Biennale 2004, Korea
- Shanghai Biennale 2004, China
- China, The Body Everywhere?, Maseille Museum Of Contemporary Art, France
- 20 Years Of Hanart, Tz Gallery, Hong Kong Art Center
- Art On The Beach, Enrico Navarra Gallery, Paris, France
2003
- From China With Art, Edwin Gallery & Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia
- The Rest Of The World, Neuffer Am Park, Pirmasens, Germany
- Neue Kunsthalle Mannheim 2, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany
- Cp Open Biennale 2003, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia
- People And People: Chinese Modern And Contemporary Art Collections Of Gdma, Guangdong Museum Of Art(Gdma), Guangzhou, China
- Living Conditions: Selections From The Gdma Collection Of Contemporary Chinese Art, Gdma, Guangzhou, China
2002
- Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition: Red Land, China; Gwangju Art Museum, Korea
- Korea And Chinese Painting 2002: New Expression, Seoul Culture & Art Center, Korea
- Chinese Contemporary Art, Rekjavik Art Museum, Iceland
- A Point In Time-Changsha, Beauty Art Museum, Changsha, China
- The First Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum Of Art, China
- Inaugural Exhibition: Contemporary Terracotta Warriors, The Esplanade, Singapore
- Golden Harvest: Chinese Contemporary Exhibition, Croatia National Art Museum, Croatia
2001
- Ornament and Abstraction, Beyeler Foundation, Basel, Switzerland
- Contemporary Chinese Art, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2000
- Portraits de Chine Contemporaine, Espace Culturel Francois Mitterrand, Paris, France
- Our Chinese Friends, Bauhaus-University and ACC Gallery, Weimar, Germany
1999
- Aperto Over All: The 48th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1998
- Contemporary Art from China, Art Beatus Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
1997
- China Now, Littmann Kulturprojekte, Basel, Switzerland
1996
- China!, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
1995
- The History of Chinese Oil Painting: Form Realism to Post-Modernism, Galerie Theoremes, Brussels, Belgium
1994
- Faces Behind the Bamboo Curtain - Works of Yue Minjun and Yang Shaobin, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
