Yue Minjun's Contemporary Terracotta Warriors Sculpture on Display in Hong Kong

Thirteen pieces of sculpture called Contemporary Terracotta Warriors from Chinese artist Yue Minjun were on exhibit at Open Piazza, Times Square in Hong Kong from May 27 to June 15, 2008. The admission time was from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. I was there at 9:50 pm on Sunday, June 15, 2008 and got the chance to observe Yue Minjun's work in person for the very first time.

I had read a few comments by art critics before observing his work in such close range. One of them was trying to link the the fisk-rising statues to the protesting students with the Tienanmen Square incident in June 4, 1989. While another sees the thirteen statues representing 1.3 billion people hiding their true feelings underneath the hysterical laugh. But I saw none of that.

What I saw here was a cleverly orchestrated display by a contemporary artist, or businessman, who definitely knows how to grab public attention and increase value for his work. Yue's work had been auctioned for tens of millions and probably is the richest living Chinese artist. When I looked at 13 pieces of almost identical sculpture, I felt they were the products from a plastic toy factory in Dongguan. My emotions were not linked to anything, expect for the fact that the art exhibition is probably going to boost the image of this Wharf shopping mall - probably one of the most expensive property in Hong Kong. Over-prices contemporary Chinese art surrounded by bad-tasted jewelries and ridiculously-priced luxury brands being sold in a sky crapper built with money made from Hong Kong's economic bubble in the 90's.

These contemporary terracotta warriors will probably sold for millions of dollars after the exhibition. But I noticed that I was the only one observing them during the last 10 minutes of their exhibition. Most people just rushed in and out of the shopping mall with their bags, without taking a brief glance of the sculptures. I felt Yue's sculptures, the shoppers, the building all slowly turned into bubbles. And in the end, all the bubbles were gone and nothing was left except for the dirt and the sky.