“Out of the Maze – Yue Minjun Solo Exhibition” opened on 30th March 2017 at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Museum. Attended guests included fellow famous artists Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang, Ye Yongqing, former Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Song Huimin, former Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Vice President of the Chinese Artists Association, Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts Wei Er Shen, Jilin Academy of Fine Arts Liu Zhaowu, Vice President of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Ji Yun Hui, Director of Hubei Art Museum Ye Shaofeng, President of the ‘Yellow River’ Magazine, famous art critic and Professor of China Academy of Fine Arts Liu Chun, famous critic Lv Peng, ArtInternational website director and famous critic Wu Hong, He Jing Yuan Art Museum curator Li Bing and so on.
The exhibition exhibited 61 pieces of Yue Minjun’s paintings, 11 manuscripts and 15 sculptures, covering almost all the series he created in recent years. Many of these works have been exhibited abroad and published in major art magazines and journals.
Opening Reception: 30th March 2017, 10 am
Exhibition Period: 30th March – 18th April 2017
Location: Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Museum of Art, no 1-6
Organizer: Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts
Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Academic Committee
Curator: Wang Yi Gang
Art Talks
Topic: Out of the Maze
Speaker: Yue Minjun
Time: 30th March 2017 at 14:30 pm
Venue: Academic Hall, 3rd Floor, General Building, Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts
Topic: Exploring Contemporary Art
Speaker: Lv Peng, Professor, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, China Academy of Fine Arts
Time: 30th March 30 2017, 18:30 pm
Venue: Academic Hall, 3rd Floor, General Building, Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts
Out of the Maze: About Yue Minjun’s Paintings
Text / Wang Yi Gang
I have always believed that the process of Chinese contemporary art is in sync with China’s reform and opening up. And in today’s history of contemporary Chinese art, it is still unavoidable, the so-called mainstream and non-mainstream aspects, often known as the ‘planned economy’ and the ‘market economy’. In fact, it is precisely because of their coexistence that enriched Chinese contemporary art, which makes today’s Chinese contemporary art fresh and powerful. “Maze” is the embodiment of the artist for today’s realistic living conditions of positive thinking.
The formation and development of Yue Minjun’s art has always been accompanied by the opening of the reform and has become one of the important representative figures of this era. He is the first generation of artists belonging to the social transformation outside the system; ignored and marginalized by the community in the early years, but this is was how he created his independence and introspection. The survival of the helpless and the real tradition is not compatible and in such an embarrassing situation, the formation of Yue Minjun’s distinctive unique artistic perspective surfaced, to ironically ridicule and deconstruct the confusion of reality, the formation of a fantastic virtual stage and self-directed human tragedy.
It is difficult for us to talk about the good or the bad of his works based on the perspectives of traditional painting because he has done what an artist should do, that is, to subvert the past aesthetic and painting experience, showcasing both reality and the vulgar of our contemporary culture. Through his own ‘space’, he provided to the audience a familiar yet unfamiliar visual situation. Most of the times, we see his “big laughing face” works but in fact, he is also a courageous artist to question, deny and constantly strive to breakthrough himself. After his fame, he still found a lot of time to explore the possibility of new art directions, visible from ‘No man’s landscape’, ‘Maze series’, ‘Debris series’ and sculpture works. We witness a Yue Minjun who is constantly improving his Expression, especially his thoughts on the Chinese culture and the interpretation of China’s own art history. With this exhibition, we try our best to show several of his important stages during his creative achievements, so that our teachers and students have a full range of close learning opportunities, also providing a rich visual feast to the public.
With such, it is my honor to represent the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Museum and express our heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Yue Minjun for his strong support, and I sincerely wish the exhibition a phenomenal success.
Selected Exhibiting Collections
