Yue Minjun is a contemporary Chinese artist born in 1962 in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province. He graduated from Hebei Normal University in 1983 with a major in oil painting. He currently lives and works in Beijing. He is best known for his signature image of himself frozen in hysterical laughter.
His family worked on oil fields and moved constantly for work. Before becoming an artist, he worked as an electrician. He started painting portraits of his co-workers while engaged in deep-sea oil drilling. In 1990, he moved to an artists’ village in Beijing. He often paints himself in multiples, in absurd positions, with a gaping oversized grin.
He started creating the exaggerated laughing self-image in the early 1990s. He has expanded this image into sculpture and printmaking. His works feature uniform laughing pink faces that appear to be self-portraits. The smile can be nervous, spiteful, or healing, often masking feelings of loss and helplessness. He uses humor as a tool to convey a tempestuous stage in modern China.
“My intention when making this series of sculptures was to use art to touch the heart of each visitor and to have them enjoy what art brings to them.”
Yue Minjun
He is often classified as part of the Chinese Cynical Realist movement, but he rejects this label. He insists his art is unclassifiable and a unique moment in history. In 1999, he participated in the 48th Venice Biennale. In 2007, he became a cover story for Time magazine and was nominated as one of the “People Who Mattered”. His works are held in major museums worldwide.
He started his “Contemporary Terracotta Warriors” sculpture series in 2000. The series was inspired by the terracotta warriors discovered in the Qin Tombs in 1974. His most famous public sculpture is “A-maze-ing Laughter,” a permanent installation in Vancouver, Canada. The sculpture consists of 14 bronze figures, each about three meters tall and weighing over 250 kilograms. They were donated to the city in 2012.
What is Yue Minjun’s signature artistic motif?
His signature motif is a self-portrait frozen in hysterical laughter, with a gaping grin and closed eyes. He uses this image in paintings, sculptures, and prints to reflect the absurdities of contemporary life.
What inspired Yue Minjun to create his laughing self-portraits?
The dark mood of the student-led demonstrations in 1989 inspired him to create vibrant, almost manic self-images as a response. The laughter can mask feelings of loss, helplessness, and confusion, serving as a coping mechanism.
Where can Yue Minjun’s sculptures be seen?
His most famous public sculpture “A-maze-ing Laughter” is permanently installed in Morton Park in Vancouver, Canada. His “Warriors” sculptures have also been installed at LongHouse Reserve in New York. His works are collected by major museums worldwide.
Yue Minjun was nominated as one of Time magazine’s “People Who Mattered” in 2007, the only artist and only Chinese national on the list alongside figures like Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama.
