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Yue Minjun's work 'Overlapping Series 07'.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] One of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of contemporary Chinese art is coming to Busan this December.

A solo exhibition of the world-renowned artist Yue Minjun (岳敏君/Yue Minjun) is scheduled to be held in Busan.

Yue Minjun held an exhibition titled "Laughing at an Era!" at the Seoul Arts Center for about six months from November 20, 2020, to May 9 of this year.

He showcased a variety of works on diverse themes, ranging from early works from the 1990s to previously unreleased recent pieces. He has expanded his artistic world through collaborations with Professor Choi Ji-man of the Ceramics Department at Sookmyung Women's University on ceramics, and with the print workshop P.K STUDIO (Baek Seung-kwan, Ha Jung-seok) on silkscreen prints.

It also became a hot topic as influencers such as RM (real name Kim Nam-joon), leader of BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan), known as a collector of Yue Minjun's works and a connoisseur of painting, as well as actress Gong Hyun-joo, Jang Geun-seok, and singer Kim Jae-joong, visited the exhibition.

The Busan exhibition of Yue Minjun will be curated by Director Yoon Jae-gap, who served as the general director of international events such as the Venice Biennale and Busan Biennale, following the Seoul exhibition.

The exhibition venue is almost finalized, and it is reported that consultations are underway with related organizations for detailed scheduling and administrative cooperation.

Director Yoon said, "His works deeply rely on the philosophy of Laozi and the Huayan school," adding, "This thought is even more prominent in his recent works that contemplate life and death and reflect on and criticize civilization."

He also explained, "He is expanding his artistic world while considering contemporary issues such as how to solve global environmental problems caused by anthropocentric thinking and reckless consumerism and how to coexist."

Director Yoon said, "It is expected that herd immunity against COVID-19 will be established around December, so the exhibition scale will be expanded by significantly increasing the number of works and organizing artist invitation events compared to the Seoul exhibition."

The artist's side expressed the hope that this exhibition will spread the laughter of 'Ilsoegochun (一笑皆春, One big laugh brings spring to the whole world)' to the Busan community, which has suffered from COVID-19, and to the relations between Korea and China.

Marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and China (2022), it is expected to add significance that a representative Chinese artist holds an exhibition in Busan.

Director Yoon said, "Yue Minjun likes Korea. He highly appreciates the cultural and artistic atmosphere and achievements, as well as the democratic and open civil society, and hopes that cultural exchanges between Korea and China will become more active so that they can reflect each other and achieve peace and prosperity," adding, "Just as filmmakers from around the world visit Busan, interest and support are needed so that world-renowned artists can also use Busan as a stage to showcase their worlds."

Yue Minjun's artwork 'Memory-2'.

Since the 2010s, contemporary Chinese art has swept museums and galleries worldwide, occupying more than 30% of the global market, attracting great attention.

The solo exhibition of Yue Minjun, who has a strong fandom not only in China but also overseas, being held in Busan is expected to have a positive ripple effect in activating the entry of Chinese artists into Busan and cultural content exchanges.

If the Seoul exhibition was Yue Minjun's first solo exhibition in Korea, the Busan exhibition will be the second domestic solo exhibition. This Busan exhibition is expected to be the artist's largest solo exhibition both domestically and internationally.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.