China’s most expensive painting: Execution
Execution, is its name and its the most expensive Chinese comtemporary art sold to date at 2.9 million pounds ($5.9 million) in a London Auction! The oil painting was painted by Yue Min Jun, a famous Beijing artist for his other works such as “The Pope” which sold for 2.15 million British pounds ($4.37 million) and “The Massacre at Chios” which sold for $4.1 million. But none has been as successful as ‘Execution’!
But all great paintings must have a greater meaning behind it to make it so controversial, and for the ‘Execution’ its no different. So what make this artwork worth 2.9 million pounds apart from the fact that they’re all laughing in a creepy way? Well, as the name has hinted, Yue Min Jun was inspired to paint ‘Execution’ by the 1989 Tian an men Square event. For those that don’t know, it was a protest that resulted in what many has called a ‘massacre’ by the Chinese government. It was also the event which created ‘Tank man’, an unknown protester that stopped advancing PLA tanks. However, the artist said that:
“But while Tiananmen served as the catalyst, the oil painting should not be seen as depicting what happened at Tiananmen” - CNN
What made this more controversial artwork more interesting is that the owner, Trevor Simon a 36 year old investment banking strategist has said that nobody else apart from him has seen this painting in over a decade due to a condition that came with the painting when he bought it for $250,000 Hong Kong dollars ($32,000) from Manfred Schoeni’s gallery in Hong Kong during the late 1990s.
Trevor Simon said that he wanted to buy the painting because:
“I realized that this stood for everything that was going on at the time, so I was stunned into silence literally. I saw what was happening in China. I was rising in banking, and I saw an execution of people who were smiling.” - CNN
The auctioning of the painting itself also had its own controversy with a man shouting out “Shame on you! You’re spending millions on art, while the world is falling apart” before he was removed from the room.
Here’s a video on the ‘Execution’:
One of the thing i’ve noticed in all Yue Min Jun’s paintings is the smiling faces, reminds me of the laughing man from Ghost in the Shell, maybe this is where it all began? Just take a look a look at the similarities! Startling isn’t it? They both just laugh ‘too’ joyfully, if that is even possible…
Source:
CNN
Shanghaiist
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All the Chinese paintings were equally competitive. It’s just that some one ranks first followed by second.
All the Chinese paintings were equally competitive. It’s just that some one ranks first followed by second.
The Chinese government has killed more people than any other government in history thanks to Maoism. Mao killed more people than Hitler and Stalin combined yet his picture is still not being torn down in China.
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