Oil on canvas

40 × 40 cm 15 3/4 × 15 3/4 in.

Signed in Chinese，dated and numbered on reverse

LITERATURE:
1997, 8+8-1: Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, p.52
EXHIBITED：
20 Jun – 12 Jul 1997，8+8-1：Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists，Schoeni Art Gallery，Hong Kong
1998，8+8-1：Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists，Connaught Brown Gallery，London

This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Schoeni Art Gallery，Hong KongI have known Mr.Schoeni for ten years.In 1994，I was still exploring art in Yuan Ming Yuan.With his sensitivity for art，Mr.Schoeni headed for my studio.Then he held my first exhibition.Ten years later，on 22 April 2004，I had another exhibition in his gallery to commemorate the first one.
That day，I hurried to Mr.Schoeni’s gallery in Hong Kong.Upon arriving，I saw him standing there，he enthusiastically greeted every visitor to the exhibition and handed out catalogues to the guests.Naturally，I was in a great mood to see so many visitors standing in front of my painting smiling.It was real a party.
Every so often Mr.Schoeni would ask me to sign autographs for certain collectors.At times I was asked to have my picture taken with someone.My legs became so tired that I sat down on the sofa whenever I had a spare moment.Yet Mr.Schoeni continued to actively entertain the guests，now and then pausing to analyze my works for them.Several hours passed，around 9 p.m.Mr.Schoeni gathered the gallery staff，his Italian friend，and my artist friend Zhao Gang，together we all set off to a restaurant for dinner.
We turned around a corner of the gallery and got into a new racing car.Mr.Schoeni started up the car with great force and revved the engine.The roads in Hong Kong are short and narrow，when he accelerated，the car felt like it was flying.Suddenly，he stopped the car，rocking his passengers.I was very worried，fearing that there would be an accident.When he saw my tense expression，Mr.Schoeni did not slow down，but made it even worse.He steered the wheel more than was necessary for even the smallest turn，shouting crazily，eyes wide open，staring ahead and screaming out single phases.I gripped the handle beside me firmly，puzzled as to what he was screaming.I thought it probably meant he was excited.Feeling nervous，scared，and excited we arrived at the restaurant.
I really admired his energy.What had this foreigner eaten to make him，so excited all day long? How could a man aged over fifty still be in such good shape with such a blushing face? Compared to me，a man of only forty，he was much more energetic.His passion for life especially influenced me.The word ‘happiness’ recaptures his whole life.
─Yue Min Jun
Sarcastic Generation
Behind Yue Mingjun's Artworks
Born in Heilongjiang in 1962，Yue Minjun is among China’s third generation of artists burgeoning in the wake of the Cultural Revolution period.He became a heavyweight pioneer in the country’s domain of modern arts at the start of the 1990s and turned out later to be an avid proponent of Cynical Realism together with Fang Lijun and Liu Wei.Having wielded a hefty influence on the evolution of China’s contemporary arts over previous years，his works have been collected by an array of significant art institutions，such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art，Denver Art Museum and Busan Museum of Art，etc.In 1997，the Idol series of Yue Minjun was displayed in the exhibition titled 8+8-1：Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists held by Schoeni Art Gallery in Hong Kong，marking his shift of focus upon portraiture from narrativeness to non-narrativeness，which features a series of twisted portraits standing for the bizarre reality.The smiley faces in his works of this series have been put among the most symbolic and discerning signs in the art circles，for they serve as a scathing satire of the saddening phenomenon which sweeps the Chinese society of today where people scramble vehemently for survival，at the expenses of nationwide homogeneity to an excessive extent.
Finished in 1996，Idol Series No.4 depicts an almost naked man who sits cross-legged，with all smiles on this face.The unique composition of picture and eerily un-frequent sentiment of the character permeates a pungent vibe of self-mockery and touches on not only the hypocrisy plaguing a society under the regime of centralism but also the significance of individualism.Layout-wise，the intended clipping of the upper part off the human face gives rise to a visual effect of something having been lost，resulting in a peculiar feel of some unaccomplished task.Singularly，the artist showcases one and only smiley face in the entire painting，factually indicating the inimitable significance of this portrait.Besides，the artist dispensed with suggestive backdrop minutiae and adopted a monotonously grey background in an effort to set off the figure at the midst with the rest of the picture，enabling the viewers to pay intense attention to the far-fetched laughter on the smiley face and thus to ponder over the profoundly implied meaning behind all of it.
Since the inception of the 20th century，with the sweeping infusions into China of the modern trend of Occidental thoughts and the surging tides of art localization across the country，a booming wave of fusion has been reaching up to the traditional forms of Chinese art which used to differ ostensibly from each other.Consequently，artists have started to liberate themselves from the confines of their established structure of knowledge and conventional modes of conduct，and employed a growing variety of art forms to create visual experiences of aesthetic which are exceedingly original and forward-looking.Over those years，Yue Minjun progressively re-forged his own language of artistic expression from a planar orientation to a 3-dimensional means，and managed to convey his own ideas about art by way of replacing the traditional language of sculpture.In reality，his works of the Contemporary Terracotta Warrior series have been deemed to be the most representative of his style，representing momentous breakthroughs he has made in the progress of exploring the imagery.
The three pieces of sculpture，now on display，have all hailed from the Contemporary Terracotta Warrior series accomplished by the artist in 2003.Debuting themselves in public view，each has been a bespoke creation by the Yue Minjun for the Hong Kong- based Schoeni Art Gallery.Dimensions of the trio are second-to-none，in contrast to those of the artist’s sculptural portfolio available today，hence their utter rarity.Faces with wide smiles were used to dissolve many particularities of traditional sculpture of assemblage，in a purpose to deconstruct the invariable solemnity of history by use of plebeian figures and further to deconstruct and reconstruct the paradigm of Chinese art inherited from ancient times，so as to cause the viewers to reflect into depth on the contemporary culture of consumerism.Exactly the same facial features are borne by the human characters，some putting their palms together whilst others endeavoring to direct their strength through concentration to a part of their bodies.Furthermore，lying behind the ostensibly absolute freedom embodied in those faces beaming with unrestrained laughter are a churned-out mentality for blind pursuit of homogeneity and a new trait of cultural standardization.Joining together，these techniques have enabled all these pieces of sculpture to highlight the sheer want for self-awareness and a much-needed spirit of independence.
In today’s China，the overwhelming abundance of material wealth is meagerly able to gloss over the material supremacy’s engulfing of spiritual freedom desired by people.In face of such an ideological dilemma resulting from collective unconsciousness，the Contemporary Terracotta Warrior series has persisted in smashing the particularities of cultural unification in modern China，on the ground that the artist has discovered，on the strength of his soberly independent will，the right niche for himself in the art world and has become capable of encapsulating inner significance of profundity in his unique modeling language.He is adamant in broadening the horizons of art and embracing an unprecedented freedom of the will.

Price estimate:
HKD: 250,000 – 350,000
USD: 32,100 – 44,900

Auction Result:
HKD: 330,400