Frankly speaking, nowadays the phenomenon of idols has become extremely tiresome. People have such strong feelings for their idols that as soon as an image of great person flashes through their minds thy feel nauseous. Life has become tasteless and absurd because of the idols. Do you not think on should counter and ridicule idols with a hearty laugh?

I want simply to confront idols with idol, to allow society to become a little more interesting!

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Reality is getting further and further away from us. Newspaper, magazines and television, the repetitions news which appears in every corner of our homes, offices, schools seem to be the absolute reality. I'm now looking for a new reality, an absolute reality that only belongs to me.
Reality slips us by more and more. Newspapers, magazines, television, the continuous news from here, there and everywhere, at home, in the office, at school, seems to be the absolute reality. I am searching for a new reality, an absolute reality that only belongs to me. (catalogue of the exhibition "'Quotation Marks': Chinese Contemporary Paintings", Singapore Art Museum; "China!", Bonn Art Museum, Germany, 1997)

In every corner of this world, you see faces, especially the ones which are created by our culture-television, magazines, movies, newspapers, commercials. Faces are seen everywhere: there are faces upon faces. I cannot depict all of these different faces simply because my mind is only set for one face.

I hope my laughing character will be seen everywhere, whether through mass-communications or the interaction of our daily lives. If everybody would laugh from their hearts, then the world would be nicer for us.
I hope that my laughing figures will be seen everywhere…the world would then be much more pleasant if everybody roared with laughter! (catalogue of the exhibition "'Quotation Marks': Chinese Contemporary Paintings", Singapore Art Museum; "China!", Bonn Art Museum, Germany, 1997)

I have always found laughter irresistible-well, at least I don't dislike it.

I paint people laughing, whether it is a big laugh, a restrained laugh, a crazy-laugh, a near-death laugh or simply laughter about our society: laughter can be about anything.

Laughter is a moment when our mind refuses to reason. When we are puzzled by certain things, our mind simply doesn't want to struggle, or perhaps we don't know how to think, therefore we just want to forget it.

The 90's is the time when everyone should laugh.

Artists are the kind of people who always like to reveal to the simple, innocent and humble souls the never-ending illusion of our lives.

"Some Thoughts About Art", Yue Minjun, Jan,'94
catalog of the exhibition "Faces Behind the Bamboo Curtain:
Works of Yue Min Jun and Yang Shao Bin", Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 1994

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write for catalogue of the exhibition "China, the Body Everywhere?", the Museum of Contemporary Art in Marseille, France, 2004

Chinese characters are ideographs, each of which looks like someone's action. I am trying to represent the spiritual and cultural state of every single character so that there can be more feelings of humanity inside them. Chinese calligraphy used to represent the mental interaction between the writer, the audience and the character. And I found out that human body also has a kind of relationship with characters then, it has even more connotation of culture in brushworks, which represent not only an action of some individual, but also an action with the characteristic of cultural symbol.

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Write for catalogue of the exhibition "Yue Minjun, Red Ocean", Chinese Contemporary Art UK, London, UK, 2000

How do you know that I make fun of something?
How does it come that I have no doubt that you laugh at something! Do you think you laugh from the bottom of your heart?
What has the reason of my laughter to do with you? I am laughing wildly.
I've never seen such a wild laugh, you only laugh for the sake of laughter, a kind of miserable laughter, let me feel you are very ridiculous.
You also know it is funny, you think I am funny, so do you think this world is also funny?
I think this world is not at all funny, everywhere it is filled with happiness.
Happiness is also a kind of laughter, to laugh for the sake of laughing, laughter is not only one kind of laughter, but countless sorts of laughter.
Every kind of laughter is a laughter.
After you've laughed, you still want to go on laughing, to laugh is also a waste, laughter is just laughter, to laugh or not to laugh depends on you.
You are not willing to laugh, so you are too ridiculous.
Do you think you are addicted to laughter, whatever you see you laugh, like this you are silly laughing, it is mindless laughter. Laughter is mindless, while you're laughing you do not think, laughter is superficial, is simple.
To laugh can make you feel young, to laugh can relieve you from worries.
I love to laugh, to laugh is better than to cry. Laughter is beauty, laughter is art, laughter is happiness, laughter is the greatest.
Can laughter be everything?
Of course, laughter is food, laughter is money, laughter is a beautiful woman, laughter is the blue sky, laughter is power. Laughter is cloth, laughter is a sharp knife, laughter is cheating, laughter is flowers and grass, laughter is science, laughter is drugs. Laughter is TV, laughter is the source of everything.
Everything is nonsense, you are a lunatic. Ha, ha, ha.
After you have laughed and become normal again, maybe there is still a trace of laughter left around the corners of your mouth, don't forget, laughter let your body relax, it is a facial massage, it speeds up your blood circulation. I laugh, you laugh, he also laughs, like this my laughter has reached its goal.
A smiling life is like this.

Yue Minjun, Beijing, 2000