Yue Minjun is a contemporary Chinese painter, sculptor, and printmaker, best known for his works depicting himself with his signature laughing expression. His paintings, sculptures, and installations are characterized by uniform, pink, laughing faces that resemble self-portraits.

Through various symbols, metaphors, signs, and representations of everyday life, the artist constructs different realities in which the laughing figures are portrayed. Yue Minjun is often classified as part of the Chinese “Cynical Realism” movement, but he firmly rejects this label, insisting that his art is a unique moment in history that cannot be categorized within any established style. Nonetheless, Yue frequently challenges social and cultural conventions by portraying objects and political issues in a radical, abstract, ironic, and cynical manner.