I thought I could recognize a Yue Minjun miles away so I got a bit of a shock when I saw these two new paintings. They will be part of his solo show at Shanghai Gallery of Art @ Three on the Bund. “Landscapes with No One” which opens on April 19.
Auction favourite Yue Minjun was one of the leaders of the Cynical Realism movement in the 90s and is famed for his signature paintings of smiling faces. With this show, the artist seems to have found a new wind, as this new series transfers people’s collective visual memories into the spirit scenes from times past.
This Landscapes with No One series is another oil painting style, which seems to originate in more classical Chinese and Western paintings. In one work, he recreates the décor of a famous painting Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters dating from the 16th century, but removed the main characters. Yue Minjun’s intention is to take out the main characters from the original paintings to create a strong contrast between the scenes you view and the scenes you remember. Some of the works focus on important scenes in the Chinese revolution and developing Socialism era.
