Alexander Ochs Gallery, Berlin Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
Scheveningen, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Xianfeng! Chinese Avant-garde Sculpture, 2005 (another example exhibited) Herford, Museum fur zeitgenossische Kunst und Design, Loss of Control, 2008 (another example exhibited)
Catalogue Essay
As part of 5 unique sets of sculptures that the artist created, the present lot is part of the group entitled Contemporary Terracotta Warriors No. 5. Yue Minjun created five of these sets of unique sculptures, each comprising 25 warriors with a different stylistic rendering of the arms: some with their arms crossed in front of their bodies, some with their hands over their ears and, in this instance, with their arms raised. The artist wittily injects contemporaneity through his reinterpretation of the historical terracotta warriors found in the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, one of China’s most influential emperors. Yue Minjun creates each of his warriors to be identical in order not to exhibit individualism, boldly critiquing the numbing similitude that plagues current society in the modern age.
signed, numbered and dated 'yue minjun 5 23/25 2003' on the reverse acrylic on fibreglass and reinforced plastic with iron base 188 x 91 x 44 cm. (74 x 35 7/8 x 17 3/8 in.) Executed in 2003, this work is number 23 from an edition of 25.