An Artist’s Famous Smile: What Lies Behind It? – Richard Bernstein

Yue Minjun talks about his paintings for the New York Times:

Your first reaction upon meeting Yue Minjun might be, yes, it is indeed he! The face with the enigmatic, jaw-breaking grin, perhaps the most recognizable image in contemporary Chinese painting, is a self-portrait.

“Yes, it’s me,” Mr. Yue said in a recent interview, and he smiled, though in a gentler, less face-splitting fashion than the man in his paintings ” the one who drifts Zelig-like past various familiar backgrounds making a sardonic, or perhaps ironically despairing, comment on the passing scene….[Full Text]

(Image: Yue Minjun in front of his artwork at his studio in Beijing, via NYT)
– Read also Behind The Smile via CDT
– See a slideshow of Yue’s paintings via NYT

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