Yue in the U.S.

Yue Minjun is the most expensive Chinese contemporary artist at auction. He is one of eight artists to whom the Chinese government has recently given his own museum to program however he wishes. But not until this month has his work been exhibited in a U.S. museum, standing on its own. The artist was in New York last week for the opening of Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile at the Queens Museum of Art, and he was given the royal treatment, escorted around town by Larry Warsh, a collector of Chinese contemporary works, given private museum tours, and greeted by curators. A sign that contemporary Chinese art is more than a trend?

Warsh arranged for me to steal 10 minutes of Yue's time at Sotheby's headquarters at 72nd and York on Friday. Here's some perspective for you: On one wall was van Gogh's The Fields (Wheat Fields), one of the last paintings the artist finished before he died at the Ravoux Inn in Auvers — it hung above his bed and carries an estimate of $28 million - $35 million. On another was Gaugin's Te Poipoi (The Morning), a Tahitian scene depicting a woman in the shallows of a river, squatting in a questionable position; it's expected to sell for $40 million - $60 million. And in the corner was a bulbous bust of Dora Maar by Picasso, estimate: $20 million - $30 million. Yue sat on the sofa, a rising star of the new guard surrounded by the old. (Earlier this month, his Execution fetched $5,945,937 (with buyer's premium) at Sotheby's in London, setting a new record for a work of Chinese contemporary art at auction.)

The artist, who does not speak English, is a man of few words. His visit to New York and the opening at the Queens Museum have been good, he says. He's not sure what to make of the recognition he's (somewhat suddenly) getting in the U.S. or what it means for his career. He can't look into the future, he says; it's about the present.

But if you were wondering what the artist might do next...

At the Met, he saw Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's painting, George Washington Crossing the Delaware. The piece, which depicts Washington on his way to the Battle of Trenton in 1776, is widely recognizable. The painter, not so much. Yue plans to use its composition as part of a series in which he takes iconic images and extracts a crucial element, creating a sense of uneasy familiarity. This painting would be a far cry from the work that has propelled Yue into art stardom: grinning figures set against politically-charged backdrops. The irony, of course, is that in China, Washington's crossing might not be particularly familiar (at least not as much as in the States), but the artist who plans to appropriate it is.

Yue Minjun, Execution, Photo Credit: Sotheby's