艺术果酱｜岳敏君：「笑的时候，人是最空洞的」
#My laughter isn’t genuine laughter
#我的笑不是真的笑
Heavily influenced by political pop and cynical realism, Yue Minjun’s works possess both a strong cartoonish coloration and the powerful, concise visual force characteristic of pop art.
岳敏君深受政治波普和玩世现实主义影响，作品既有强烈漫画色彩，亦有波普艺术强烈、简洁的视觉力量。
In Yue Minjun’s paintings, a mischievous smiling face repeatedly appears, which has become the iconic image created by the artist using himself as a blueprint.
在岳敏君的画面中，不断重复出现透露着戏谑味道的肆意笑脸，这正是艺术家以自我形象为蓝本所创造的标志性图像。
Cynical realism, as a contemporary Chinese art movement primarily focused on painting, began in the 1990s. From this period onwards, Yue Minjun began to depict, with intense ink and color, every painting centered around the “self-image”, transforming this classic image in every creative phase or form of expression, from oil painting to sculpture and printmaking.
玩世现实主义作为一种以绘画为主的中国当代美术潮流，始于20世纪90年代，而从这个时期开始，岳敏君就开始浓墨厚彩地着刻画着每一个以“自我形象”为核心的画面，这一经典形象的塑造呈现在艺术家每一个创作阶段或是创作形式上，从油画到雕塑再到版画领域。
This “Cynical Realism” series features clean colors, strong contrasts, and a strong sense of vitality and humor, with exaggerated facial expressions, ridiculous and stiff limbs, and an absurd atmosphere—these are all characteristic elements of Yue Minjun’s artistic language, which has become a powerful symbol in itself. This symbolic language always carries a hint of irony and mockery, yet also expresses Yue Minjun’s reflections on life and criticism of the social environment.
这批“微笑主义系列”色彩干净、对比强烈，透露着勃勃生机和十足趣味，画中人面容嘻哈，神情滑稽、肢体僵硬荒诞——这正是岳敏君标志性的艺术语言，甚至转变为一种更具有强大感染力的符号。这种符号化语言总是暗含着着一股淡淡的嘲讽意味和调侃，但也同时承载着岳敏君对生活的思考，对社会环境的批判。
Having painted laughter for many years without reaching a conclusion, Yue Minjun also questions himself. However, he believes that the questions he’s exploring through laughter remain unanswered.
画了大笑很多年，依然没有结束，岳敏君也反问自己，但他觉得用大笑去尝试探究的问题依然没有解决。
Regarding change and constancy, Yue Minjun prefers not to analyze it deliberately. He emphasizes that painting should follow intuition because painting is more like an expression of psychological and physiological feelings; it’s right to follow intuition.
关于变与不变，岳敏君并不愿意刻意去分析，他强调绘画就应该跟着直觉走，认为绘画更像是一种心理和生理感受的表达，跟着直觉表达出来才是对的。
Of course, over the years, his paintings have also changed: the composition has become flatter, the colors brighter, and the contrast between color blocks more pronounced. What hasn’t changed is that smile, the ingrained habit of color use, and the inexplicable atmosphere.
当然，这么多年来，他的绘画也不是一成不变的：画面更平面、色彩更明亮，色块之间对比更明显，在视觉体验上，一切都变得更加简单直接。不变的，还是那张笑脸，那种骨子里透出来的用色习惯，还有那令人琢磨不透的气氛。
“When people laugh, they don’t think; in a way, I paint happy, manipulated people.”
“人在笑的时候是不思想的，从某种意义讲，我画的是幸福的、被人驱使的人们。”
“I have an ambition that, in the future, whenever people see something laughing, they’ll think of me, and only me, not anyone else.”
“我有一个野心，以后让所有人都只要看到笑的东西就想到我，而且只能是我，不是别人。”
#迷宫
The formation and development of Yue Minjun’s painting art have always progressed in tandem with the reform and opening up of society, making him one of the significant representative figures of this era. He was among the first generation of artists to exist outside the confines of the establishment during a time of significant social change, enduring marginalization and disregard in society while simultaneously cultivating his independence and introspection.
岳敏君绘画艺术的形成与发展，始终都伴随着改革的开放而同步发展，并且成了这个时代重要的代表性人物之一。他是在社会大的变革中第一代游离于体制之外的艺术家，在社会中承受被漠视及边缘化，同时也造就了他的独立与自省。
The despair of survival is incompatible with true tradition. In such an awkward predicament of marginalized culture, there is both a “Cynical Realism”-esque tenacity and self-mockery that forms a distinct, lucid expression, using irony and self-deprecation to deconstruct the confusion of survival in reality and form a dreamlike virtual stage and a human tragicomedy of self-directed and self-acted performance. It is difficult to discuss his works’ merits or demerits based on the significance of traditional painting, as he has accomplished what an artist ought to: he has subverted previous aesthetic experiences and interpretations of Chinese art history, incorporating China’s ubiquitous commercial culture and vulgar, plebeian culture into his artistic expression, providing the public with a visual feast that feels both familiar and foreign.
生存的无奈与真正的传统并不兼容，在一个边缘文化中既“躲避高贵”又有“玩世主义”般的顽劣与自嘲，在这样的一种尴尬情境中形成了他鲜明的独特的表现手法，并以反讽自嘲来解构质疑现实生存的困惑，形成了一个梦幻般的虚拟舞台和自导自演的人间悲喜剧。我们很难从传统绘画的意义上来谈论他作品的好与坏，因为他做了一个艺术家最应该做的事情，就是颠覆了以往的审美及绘画经验，将现实生活中的泛商业及艳俗流文化全部纳入自己的表现空间之中，给公众提供了一个既熟悉又陌生的视觉情境。
#All the Unforgettable Sorrow Hides in This Smile
#一切不能回忆的悲伤，都藏在这个笑容里
Though we primarily see his “Big Face Smile” pieces, Yue Minjun is also an artist who bravely negates and continually strives to transcend himself. Even after achieving success, he continues to devote significant time to exploring and discovering new means of artistic expression, such as landscapes devoid of human figures, labyrinth series, fragmentation series, and sculpture and installation art. We can observe Yue Minjun’s relentless refinement of his creative expression, especially his contemplation of Chinese culture and interpretation of China’s art history—an endeavor that is both admirable and remarkable.
For this exhibition, we have made every effort to showcase his creative accomplishments across various stages, providing a close-up, comprehensive learning opportunity for our teachers and students while also offering a rich visual feast for the art-loving public of Liaoning and Shenyang.
— Professor and Museum Director at Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts
在我们大多数视野中看到的是他“大脸嘻笑”作品，其实他同样也是一个勇于否定、不断努力超越自我的艺术家。在他功成名就以后，他仍然用大量的时间发现、探索新的表现的可能性，例如无人的风景、迷宫系列、碎片系列及雕塑与装置，我们都可以看出岳敏君一直在不断地完善他的表达，特别是他对中国文化的思考及中国自身艺术史上的解读，更是难能可贵。此次展览我们尽最大努力呈现出他几个重要阶段的创作成就，让我们的师生有个全方位近距离了解学习的机会，同时也为热爱艺术的辽沈公众提供一场丰富的视觉盛宴。
——鲁迅美术学院教授美术馆馆长
Many art critics believe that Yue Minjun’s artistic style is outstanding. Using vivid colors and exaggerated imagery, he repeatedly depicts a person with a wide-mouthed, empty, and indifferent smile, symbolizing the loss of faith and moral support in contemporary society and the resultant state of spiritual emptiness and void that creates a strong visual impact.
很多艺评家认为，岳敏君的艺术风格非常出色，用强烈的色彩和夸张的形象重复绘制一个张着大嘴表情空洞无情的大笑之人，标志着当代社会普遍丧失信仰而失去价值观支撑，呈现出一种社会性精神空虚的生存状态，造成一种强大的视觉冲击效果。
