Yue Minjun (b. 1962)
Chinese Contemporary Warriors No. 6, 2005
Bronze
73 x 22 x 15 inches (185.4 x 55.9 x 38.1 cm)
Number 13 from the edition of 25
Incised in pinyin, numbered, and dated on the base

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Private collection, Beijing and Private collection, London, acquired from the above.

EXHIBITED:
Queens Museum of Art, New York, "Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile," October 14, 2007-January 6, 2008 (another example exhibited).

LITERATURE:
B. Feng, Reproduction Icons: Yue Minjun Works: 2004-2006, Shenzhen: He Xiangning Art Museum and Museum Collection Services Co., 2006, p. 99.

"...whether it's a big laugh, a restrained laugh, a crazy laugh, a near-death laugh or simply laughter about our society: laughter can be about anything. Laughter is the moment when our mind refuses reason. When we are puzzled by certain things, our mind simply doesn't want to struggle, perhaps we don't know how to think therefore we just want to forget. In Chinese tradition you can't say things directly. You have to show something else for the real meaning. I wanted to show a happy smile and show that behind it is something sad, and even dangerous." -Yue Minjun