Beijing

Yue Minjun is a leading figure in what became to be known as Cynical Realism. The famous man figure in his art is probably the most well known and representative icon of this early 1990's art movement.

Cynical Realism is an artistic trend that evolved as an aftermath of the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen and the closing of the “China Avant Garde” exhibition at the China national Gallery in Beijing. These events which symbolize the climax of the artistic aspirations that built up during the 1980’s collapsed at once and created a void that Yue Minjun and others filled with a new message full of irony and indifference to the big forces that the individual is subject to. Yue Minjun was one of the first artists to translate this new social temperament onto the canvas. The idealism of the 1980’s gave room to a more somber and realistic understanding of the role of avant garde art under a one party regime. In this sense, Yue Minjun’s art reflects the new artistic tendencies of contemporary Chinese art in the 1990’s.

Yue Minjuns' art with its humor, cynicism, emphasis of strong vivid colors and the centrality of the individual displays all the common characteristics of the movement of Cynical Realism.

Yue Minjun’s art has been exhibited all over the world and has been a major force in sparking the great international interest in Contemporary Chinese art

Click here for more art by Yue Minjun

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