Yue Minjun is a leading figure of China’s post-Tiananmen generation of artists. His artistic style is described as “Cynical Realism,” a term used by leading art critic Li Xianting to represent the disillusioned artistic movement that emerged after the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen.
His social commentary reveals suffering and misery, which are masked within his ironic laughter. Born in 1962 in Daqing City, China, Yue studied at Hebei Normal University in the 1980s, training as a painter, sculptor, and printmaker. His works are held in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Shenzhen Art Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He currently lives and works in Beijing, China.
