Yue Minjun

signed in Pinyin and dated 2005; signed and titled in Chinese and dated 2005 on the reverse

Private Collection, New York

Shenzhen, He Xiangning Art Museum, Reproduction Icons: Yue Minjun Works, 2004-2006, Shenzhen, 2006, p. 48, illustrated colour

Collected Edition of Chinese Oil Painter Volume of Yue Minjun, Chengdu, 2006, p. 91, illustrated in colour

This work is in generally very good condition. The canvas can benefit from restretching. There is minor rubbing along the extreme lower edges and in the extreme left and right corners edges. Otherwise there are no apparent condition problems with this work.
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The ubiquitous laughter of Yin Minjun's leering figures undermines any paradigm intended to make sense of modern life, and while his compositions can certainly be seen as travesties of an undemocratic, single-party society, there is something as well that appeals to all of us, no matter what culture we may come from. Yue's allegorical appeal stems in part from the narrow spectrum of imagery he allows himself; again and again, we find him confronting public notions of the self and its discontents. His work conveys dissatisfaction, even in the most innocent settings, while his repeated use of a sharply public identity tends to yield to analysis of social mores in the life of contemporary Chinese people.

 

Thus a predilection for the ridiculous positions life places us in is basic to Yue's sensibility. Is he laughing at society or at himself—or is he doing both at the same time? Despite the grinning face, there is a bleak sense of isolation we repeatedly face in Yue's art. He may be having fun, but he is going nowhere, as the repetitions of his wide-mouthed laugh suggest. The Cynical Realism Yue subscribed to in the 1980s is transformed by a broadening sense of responsibility to his imagination

 

The current lot Hat Series—Armed Forces emerges an exceptional piece of late—a group of men clad in identical uniform each wears different headgear.  Every man is thus assigned his own distinct role.  "My interest in the hat was piqued at the time of the Olympic Games in Athens, when various hats were used to denote the ranking of the medal winners. They were all based around the shaped of an olive. It was a harmless idea, intended to promote the fact of the games being held in Greece, where the whole concept of the games originated. It was also rather amusing. It made me think about the origin of hats, and how the symbolism of "the hat" evolved. Why was it that this particular accessory became the sign of a job, a social position? Or stranger still, how a hat could signify nationality, or an ethnic group. Today most societies don't require people to wear hats. Those we see most commonly are part of a uniform that goes with a job—construction worker, policeman, soldier, nurse. People who choose to wear hats today usually use them to make statements about their personalities, so the hat becomes an extension of the wearer's image. No one chooses a hat lightly: it has to be right. Unless it goes with the job—then you have no choice. So the placing of various hats on the figures in this series of paintings is about highlighting the role of the hat in asserting and reinforcing social differentials, and my sense of the absurdity of the ideas that govern the sociopolitical protocol surrounding hats.