| The art of Yue Minjun is based on his own smile
as the basic image for his painting and sculpture. This image
has become a kind of permanent icon through repeated use over
the last ten years. For the Chinese, an icon is an integral
symbol in their minds, as in the saying "the kingdom cannot
do without a king for a single day". Why is it so? This
is because in the psychology of the Chinese, there is the habit
of passively accepting icons and the mentality of letting themselves
be suppressed by despots and controlled by heroes. They have
the common characteristic of showing blind loyalty under great
power and pressure. The people throughout the country during
the Mao era therefore were all united in their thinking, conduct
and language, because "we will triumph only when we all
march to the same tune". In other words Mao Zedong applied
the approach of military operation to order the daily lives
of the people during peacetime. Thus appeared a miracle-the
uniform Mao attire or the green fatigue of the army had become
the common everyday dress of the Chinese people for more than
half a century. If anyone tried to dress any differently he
or she would be ostentatious. If this refers to the matter of
clothes of everyday life, it also applies to art where on an
ideological level it is in the service of politics, socialism,
and the people. In its form, it should be red, bright and brilliant
especially "Cultural Revolution art" with its particular
composition, icons of the worker, peasant and soldier, and stipulated
colors. Any artist who had produced propaganda posters would
have created works according to these guidelines. Come to think
of it, with the triumphalism of the worker, peasant and soldier
in those years, that smile on their faces that greeted dawn
and welcomed spring and victory is the same one on Yue Minjun's
face. This is the smile with Chinese characteristic, disciplined,
proud and bright. Whenever such a well-regulated smile appears
in the movies, plays and art work, it must represent the victory
of the Chinese people, or even another victory yet again. When
the people face this kind of smile, they feel the pride and
nobility of the Chinese people, and an invincible strength as
well as a surge of warmth. Besides, such a smile leads the people
to love and embrace their motherland while setting their sight
on the world.
Born in the early 1960s Yue Minjun felt during his childhood
and youth that the world, and aesthetics were neat and uniform
where there was no room for individual imagination and expansion.
What then was really his creative source and theoretical basis?
This in fact can be traced to what the ancient sages said:
"Banish the desire of Man so that the principle of Heaven
is kept alive." Yue has discerned the Chinese essence
from all those details of a feudalistic culture. In his work,
he forcefully exposes the limitations to life and space for
existence of the Chinese people, in order to seek the almost
holy strength and mythical magic that have formed in their
hearts. What was the secret of the success of rebels such
as Chen Sheng and Wu Guang? What is meant when one says a
lie becomes truth when it has been repeated a thousand times?
These questions have probably given Yue the basic idea why
he would become an icon. That is to say one must first become
an icon oneself before it is possible for others to assess
how good or bad one is. As long as one is criticized, one's
art gradually comes into existence in people's mind. If one
doesn't become a model, who would know what one is struggling
with? Successful people in the world fall into two types:
the first is the kind who quickly sets himself up as an icon
as soon as he goes out into world, moving with the currents
of the media era flowing into homes of ordinary folks. The
other kind is the recluse who goes in meditation leaving his
thoughts and work in the hills to be found 500 years later
as a great discovery that would make both news and art historical
material at the same time. The difference between the two
lies only in the time of and chosen way to success.
Of course as some might say, wouldn't using one's own smiling
face again and again as an icon amount to opportunism? This
is a good question. Let us consider for a moment, the paintings
of the "Four Greats" of Yuan Dynasty show that each
has a distinct style, which is as clear as daylight. Why?
Because each had very distinctive features in terms of composition
and brush technique as they summarized the characteristics
of Nature while working on the icon of Nature as an art form.
The same goes for Ni Yunlin who kept on painting with broken
lines so that people would remember that as his innovation.
Yue paints himself smiling everyday in order to keep reminding
people of the artistic characteristics of himself appearing
as an icon. This is the common theme of artists through the
ages. It is only artists such as Picasso who have the exceptional
energy to change several times in one single day as though
they have taken some elixir.
As I see it, there have been three directions in Yue Minjun's
artistic exploration in the last decade.
1 Characteristics of social expression and
mass culture
This type of work is represented by sculptures such as Terracotta
Soldiers. Rows of human figures stand in lines as in a military
formation, all laughing emptily, as though waiting for an
order and the response from those wearing the same grin. Similar
to this is Pyramid, which depicts the relationship between
the ruler and the ruled. Actually these 17 people are all
tired and in danger because a slightest move would set off
a chain reaction. Each of them therefore would be on their
knees day and night but never stopped laughing as though if
they did a crisis would break out between them, which is the
secret of the construction of the pyramid. Tango represents
even more effectively the coordination between people in a
society, whether you fly high in your achievement or suffer
in your submission, you get a sense of the tango style and
the comical. Guanxi reflects the weird relationship between
people trying to mystify each other in society, as is often
heard: "It is because I like you that I abuse you with
abandon and deliberately flog your bottoms in public."
This on the one hand shows that I know too well that you are
able to endure this kind of humiliation; on the other hand
you get a chance to demonstrate your authority to abuse someone
in public. In fact it would be best for this out dated style
of the man-about-town to remain in the closed confines of
the village as a way of deception. In the works mentioned
above, one can see the silly grins of self-mockery of Yue
Minjun, from which one finds the reality of teasing the icon.
These are probably the characteristics of social expression
and mass culture today.
2 Bright Sunny Days
This category is Yue Minjun's representative works as they
possess great wisdom and ability of generalization. Among
the four pieces in the Memories Series, Fluttering Red Flags
shows a man with a silly grin wearing red flags fluttering
on poles planted on his head. It is a picture of joyous song
and dance. Brain Sea depicts the great leader Mao Zedong swimming
freely in the water in the mental sea of the icon. This guy
has had the sea of his brain swum by Mao Zedong, unnaturally
filling it with the thought of Mao Zedong? This is the brain
that was the darling of revolution. Festival has the icon's
head releasing festival balloons rising gradually. In our
memories only on May Day, International Labor Day, October
First National Day would one see scenes of such grand celebrations.
Long live has the head of an icon filled with thousands of
pairs of hads stretching upwards holding the little red books,
as though amidst shouts of "wansui, wansui, maozhuxi
wansui"(Long live! Long live! Long live Chairman Mao!)
the four pieces of Memories Series are the collective memories
of an entire generation who, no matter how many years later
or how far they may have gone, would go crazy the moment thy
see such a scene. This is the unified recollection from those
bright sunny days. The Sun places a red round sun in the background
and 800 million people singing and marching forward in the
radiating light. They sing loudly in unison: "The east
wind blows, the battle drum rolls, who in the world is afraid
of who anyway? If it isn't that the people are afraid of American
imperialists, it's the American imperialists being afraid
of the people…" it is therefore in this kind of work
that can really communicate Yue's recollection of the icon
and the source of silly grins. As a matter of fact, the people
care not if the icon is smart or silly, but rather if it is
useful or not. The people would need to make a choice that
is either political or of ordinary daily life as according
to their own needs.
3 Self-mockery and Ennui
Yue's early work Riding the Fish(title newly given), whose
original title the artist himself has forgotten, is a wonderful
painting. The icon is seen in a lady's swimming costume riding
a giant gold fish wearing a broad sweet smile, sailing across
the oceans. What a blissful world this is! Eight Immortals
Crossing the Sea shows eight icons each riding an ostrich
looking joyous as though after a bountiful harvest. Perhaps
they are talking about each other's heroic deeds forgetting
that they are immortals who are having a jolly good time in
the world of mortals. Morning Sun has a group of people squeezing
in a chimney with each of them craning his head to face the
morning sun basking as well as laughing at the same world.
In Surrender, acrowd stands before a Cezanne painting showing
gestures of capitulation while laughing and giggling heartily.
On the one hand, they get opportunities and money from such
surrender, on the other they are mocking at the dilemma of
the kind and brave resistance fighters. It is as though in
this silly laughter they transcend their self-mockery and
ennui with some elements of conspiracy and deception. Actually
no matter what expression or gesture Yue sets for his laughter,
it betrays the inner being of self-mockery and the genuineness
of ennui that one feels on the way to success.
The initial thinking behind Yue's creations is: "Life
has been rendered completely tasteless even to the point of
absurdity by icons, do I not sneer back at icons and laugh
heartily at them. My motive is merely to desecrate icons with
icons so that society be more interesting." I feel Yue
Minjun has demonstrated vividly in a series of works: the
characteristics of social expression and mass cultures-Terracotta
Soldiers, bright and sunny days-Memories Series and self-mockery
and ennui-Riding the Fish, while revealing the reality of
helplessness and powerlessness in an age of mass culture that
has lost its idols and heroes. One can clearly sense in Yue
Minjun's works the authenticity of subversion, self-mockery,
irony, distortion, sarcasm, emptiness and non-history. Qualitatively,
icons could refer to poverty while referring to wealth. Quantitatively,
there are numerous things that icons could repeatedly refer
to, and yet what they refer to is invariably canonized but
the variety is small. When the people make the mocking of
icons part of their everyday conduct, they really wake from
their dreams and begin to say the things that normal people
should be saying. But the sober are lonely, revelation will
cause the lonely to distance themselves from the masses, although
to desecrate icons with icons in the thought and art of the
sober appears to an act of wisdom and talent. Nonetheless,
the society would not thus become more interesting, nor would
this ensure a better tomorrow.
Dawn, 28 September 2002
Written by Zhang Qing
Translated by Teo Han Wue
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