Yue Minjun

Yue Minjun is one of the leading artists in the field of Chinese contemporary art and he is also respected as a founding painter of the "Cynical Realist" movement in China. His work stands at the forefront of this significant genre in the development of the field of Chinese contemporary art. 

Most of Yue Minjun's work portrays his own likeness; figures and faces leering, laughing, and reveling in life. Although Yue Minjun's characters are always grinning from ear to ear, they also convey a sense of irony. 

Unlike the idealistic art of the early 1980's, Yue Minjun's art makes us aware of the relationship between the Chinese avant-garde art and Chinese politics. The repeated use of the artist's own image in his art is a potent example of "self-image." By replicating his smiling likenesses again and again, Yue Minjun has transformed his own image into a powerful contemporary symbol. 

Yue Minjun's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Yue Minjun's first U.S. retrospective was presented at the Queens Museum of Art in New York in 2007. He lives and works in Beijing.