YUE MINJUN (B.1962)

In 2007, the art historian and curator Lu Peng invited a group of Chinese contemporary artists including Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya, Ye Yongqing, Yue Minjun, Wang Guangyi, Mao Xuhui, Wu Shanzhuan, and Zhang Peili to gather at a resort of Sanya for a ‘brush event’. The artists were asked to explore traditional medium of ink and color using brush on rice paper in reinterpreting the most recognizable themes and imageries within their oeuvre. Like the Orchid Pavilion gathering organized by Wang Xizhi in the Six Dynasties, the Sanya gathering after 1600 years brought contemporary artists together for mutual inspiration and artist creation, reviving the great literati traditional in the Chinese history.

Yue Minjun is a pioneer extraordinaire of the Cynical Realism art movement, an artistic expression that takes a decidedly derisive viewpoint of modern society in China. Yue’s iconic grinning faces in his paintings have become synonymous with the burlesque ridicule of contemporary society. For the Sanya collection, Yue departed from his humorous semblance, experimenting the expressiveness of brush and ink in a way that infuses modern painterly skills with Eastern philosophy. The work unmistakably presents Western Abstract Expressionism, yet still vividly evokes the “spiritual resemblance” of aspects of nature that is highly valued in Chinese ink art tradition. Considered a compliment to the occasion of the Sanya gathering, this work links the past and present of Chinese ink art, and has showcased a common ground for the timeless tradition and contemporary aesthetics.