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Lot Essay
"If the big-picture question of our time is what to make of China, this is the man to paint it." - Times Magazine, Dec. 19, 2007.
‘Like glamour shots of celebrities, used for commercial purposes, all of the wrinkles and warts have been airbrushed. It is fake. But some people like this kind of fakeness.’ - Yue Minjun
Blue skies, soaring birds, and smiles — these are happy images that verge upon cliche. Yet Yue Minjun mercilessly exaggerates, freezes, and reassembles these elements, transforming them into subjects of satire and reflection. Yue Minjun’s 1995 work Execution referenced an indiscriminate silencing of justice, inspired by the works of Picasso, Manet, and Goya; his 2003 work Big Swans (Lot 42) likewise stands as a strong surrealistic indictment on the disappearance of freedom under the crushing wave of commercialization.
THE LAUGHING FIRING SQUAD
The Cultural Revolution broke out when Yue Minjun was five years old. At the time his family was placed into a communist commune. He recalls, ‘There were peoplecarrying machine guns everywhere… I remember on top of the building where I lived, there were turrets. Children were not allowed to leave the complex’. Witnessing such a high pressure environment where conflict was always presentwas an unforgettable experience, and it became a central theme of his artistic output. The rows of people laughing in formation as they aim their rifles are desensitised to the history unfolding in front of them, both apathetic and helpless. Just like the frantic masses in Bosch’s painting, they are ignorant of the grand folly in which they play. By the 1980s, the mania of Cultural Revolution was trampled under the hooves of economic reform. Yet, social conflicts stemming from that time remain unresolved. Conflicts at the end of the 80s only resulted in greater amnesia and silence. Using his own face as template, Yue Minjun produced four figures that represent the common man: the same outfit, the same pose, the same facial features, and an identical smile. Their smiles are absurdly exaggerated, but their hearts are empty like their wide-open mouths. Devoid of any genuine emotion, these figures suggest the eradication of the self under extreme collectivism.
TOADS VERSUS SWANS
The composition and symbolism of Big Swans reveals the conflict behind the laughter. The picture is clearly divided into two sides — swans soaring across blue skies on the left, and a group of pink-skinned men in single file on the right, aiming imaginary rifles at the swans. In traditional Chinese culture, swans symbolise loyalty and noble aspirations, creating a stark contrast to the row of comical men dressed in t-shirts and jeans. Blue skies and flying birds are traditionally regarded as a symbol of freedom. When juxtaposed against the group of men with identically frozen smiles and poses, the swans highlight the absurdity and foolishness of the collective.
These two diametrically opposed forces receive a playful treatment from the artist — the men mime firing rifles, but they do not actually have any fire power. The flock of swans in flight extends all the way to the right side of the painting behind the group of men, as if the shooters are a group of tourists posing for pictures in front of a painted mural. The result is that an obvious confrontation has been "harmonised" and glossed over by the artist with comedy.
GLAMOUR ON THE OUTSIDE, VOID ON THE INSIDE
The vibrant palette and attention-grabbing figures in Big Swans is reminiscent of the perfect world often portrayed in advertisements, a world in which everything has been airbrushed over. The painted sky is flat like a theatre backdrop, and the skin of the characters are glistening and oily, as if they’ve been smoothed over with a layer of grease. During the era of unprecedented prosperity in the United States during the 1960s, Andy Warhol created the Elvis series based on the concepts of reproduction, icons, and posters. The image of Elvis in a cowboy costume holding a gun has been reproduced over and over –depicted in a vivid palette of red and blue, they are vaguely unsettling. With each copy, Warhol reminds us that the stardom of celebrities is fleeting. Yue Minjun, on the other hand, uses his iconic laughing men to reveal the absurdity of the sheep-like mentality that lies behind the fabulous colours of commercialism, and the superficiality behind veneers of happiness.
Serious historical subjects and political predictions are obscured by gaudy colours and vacuous smiles. In a world dominated by social media and globalisation, Big Swans demonstrates admirable foresight. The picture is frozen at the moment when the rifles are pointing at the swans. The artist offers no clue as to what comes before or after. Will the swans retreat at the sight of the “rifles”? Or will they charge at the men for mutually assured destruction? It is also possible that everything in the picture is a hypothetical situation designed by the artist as an open question to the viewers. The diverse possibilities of this work warrants repeated reading to fully appreciate its complexity.
‘Like glamour shots of celebrities, used for commercial purposes, all of the wrinkles and warts have been airbrushed. It is fake. But some people like this kind of fakeness.’ - Yue Minjun
Blue skies, soaring birds, and smiles — these are happy images that verge upon cliche. Yet Yue Minjun mercilessly exaggerates, freezes, and reassembles these elements, transforming them into subjects of satire and reflection. Yue Minjun’s 1995 work Execution referenced an indiscriminate silencing of justice, inspired by the works of Picasso, Manet, and Goya; his 2003 work Big Swans (Lot 42) likewise stands as a strong surrealistic indictment on the disappearance of freedom under the crushing wave of commercialization.
THE LAUGHING FIRING SQUAD
The Cultural Revolution broke out when Yue Minjun was five years old. At the time his family was placed into a communist commune. He recalls, ‘There were peoplecarrying machine guns everywhere… I remember on top of the building where I lived, there were turrets. Children were not allowed to leave the complex’. Witnessing such a high pressure environment where conflict was always presentwas an unforgettable experience, and it became a central theme of his artistic output. The rows of people laughing in formation as they aim their rifles are desensitised to the history unfolding in front of them, both apathetic and helpless. Just like the frantic masses in Bosch’s painting, they are ignorant of the grand folly in which they play. By the 1980s, the mania of Cultural Revolution was trampled under the hooves of economic reform. Yet, social conflicts stemming from that time remain unresolved. Conflicts at the end of the 80s only resulted in greater amnesia and silence. Using his own face as template, Yue Minjun produced four figures that represent the common man: the same outfit, the same pose, the same facial features, and an identical smile. Their smiles are absurdly exaggerated, but their hearts are empty like their wide-open mouths. Devoid of any genuine emotion, these figures suggest the eradication of the self under extreme collectivism.
TOADS VERSUS SWANS
The composition and symbolism of Big Swans reveals the conflict behind the laughter. The picture is clearly divided into two sides — swans soaring across blue skies on the left, and a group of pink-skinned men in single file on the right, aiming imaginary rifles at the swans. In traditional Chinese culture, swans symbolise loyalty and noble aspirations, creating a stark contrast to the row of comical men dressed in t-shirts and jeans. Blue skies and flying birds are traditionally regarded as a symbol of freedom. When juxtaposed against the group of men with identically frozen smiles and poses, the swans highlight the absurdity and foolishness of the collective.
These two diametrically opposed forces receive a playful treatment from the artist — the men mime firing rifles, but they do not actually have any fire power. The flock of swans in flight extends all the way to the right side of the painting behind the group of men, as if the shooters are a group of tourists posing for pictures in front of a painted mural. The result is that an obvious confrontation has been "harmonised" and glossed over by the artist with comedy.
GLAMOUR ON THE OUTSIDE, VOID ON THE INSIDE
The vibrant palette and attention-grabbing figures in Big Swans is reminiscent of the perfect world often portrayed in advertisements, a world in which everything has been airbrushed over. The painted sky is flat like a theatre backdrop, and the skin of the characters are glistening and oily, as if they’ve been smoothed over with a layer of grease. During the era of unprecedented prosperity in the United States during the 1960s, Andy Warhol created the Elvis series based on the concepts of reproduction, icons, and posters. The image of Elvis in a cowboy costume holding a gun has been reproduced over and over –depicted in a vivid palette of red and blue, they are vaguely unsettling. With each copy, Warhol reminds us that the stardom of celebrities is fleeting. Yue Minjun, on the other hand, uses his iconic laughing men to reveal the absurdity of the sheep-like mentality that lies behind the fabulous colours of commercialism, and the superficiality behind veneers of happiness.
Serious historical subjects and political predictions are obscured by gaudy colours and vacuous smiles. In a world dominated by social media and globalisation, Big Swans demonstrates admirable foresight. The picture is frozen at the moment when the rifles are pointing at the swans. The artist offers no clue as to what comes before or after. Will the swans retreat at the sight of the “rifles”? Or will they charge at the men for mutually assured destruction? It is also possible that everything in the picture is a hypothetical situation designed by the artist as an open question to the viewers. The diverse possibilities of this work warrants repeated reading to fully appreciate its complexity.