THE POWER OF LAUGHTER Yue Minjun

(Free and at Leisure series no.12, 2004)

Wonderfully contorted and almost grotesque and maniacal pink-skinned, grinning caricature-like faces of the artist himself - giving us an "inventive take on self-portraiture" - frozen in laughter, often submerged in compositions based on well known European masterpieces and iconic Chinese art. That and much more is Beijing-based contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun. Theorist Li Xianting as described his work as “a self-ironic response to the spiritual vacuum and folly of modern-day China.”

“My work is to do with the fundamental agony of being human and the sense of confusion that comes with living in our society. A smile doesn’t necessarily mean happiness; it could be something else.”