If you were arguably the most renowned artist within, arguably, the most provocative art movement the East has ever seen, where would you go to showcase your work? Take a few seconds. Well if you said Queens, home of the Mets, 50 Cent and the phrase “youz guys,” you are correct. Yue Minjun, a leading figure in the Beijing “cynical realism” movement, is on display at the Queens Museum of Art through January 6 in his first ever American museum exhibition. Entitled “Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile,” the Queens Museum will display Yue’s signature laughing face self-portraits which depict himself in various settings and uniforms with a huge smile. Along with the paintings, the QMA will showcase 20 life-size Terracotta Warrior statues, all with Yue’s trademark grin. Yue was in New York for the opening and when asked by the New York Times about the laughing as a constant in his art, Yue responded, “anybody who’s gone through Chinese recent experience would understand it.” New York readers, follow the sound of airplanes out to Flushing before year’s end.
Image: Queens Museum of Art
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