Yue Minjun

The art of Yue Minjun is based on his own smile as the basic image for his painting and sculpture. This image has become a kind of permanent icon through repeated use over the last ten years. For the Chinese, an icon is an integral symbol in their minds, as in the saying "the kingdom cannot do without a king for a single day". Why is it so? This is because in the psychology of the Chinese, there is the habit of passively accepting icons and the mentality of letting themselves be suppressed by despots and controlled by heroes. They have the common characteristic of showing blind loyalty under great power and pressure. The people throughout the country during the Mao era therefore were all united in their thinking, conduct and language, because "we will triumph only when we all march to the same tune". In other words Mao Zedong applied the approach of military operation to order the daily lives of the people during peacetime.