岳敏君，1962生于黑龙江大庆， 1985 就读于河北师范大学美术系， 60年代初生于黑龙江大庆的岳敏君，从小跟著在石油系统工作的父母转换了很多的城市。高中毕业后，在天津海洋石油总公司做过两年的石油工人。由于从小对绘画有兴趣，再加上周围有几个同学和朋友也一直在画画，就这么著彼此影响，到1985年考到了河北师范大学艺术系。1989年毕业以后，他被分配到了一所石油学校做教师。

对“自我”的定义是90年代以来中国当代艺术的主题，对于中国艺术家个人来说，这种“自我形象”的崇拜性认定已经成为某种国际和国内认同的商标。岳敏君的形象(新偶像)广泛的被媒体和公众所接受，同时以其当代特有的自我认识满足了杂志对当代个人新英雄塑造的需要。
2000年开始的“现代兵马俑”试图把某种历史的能量吸纳进对“自我形象”的制造上，而 “兵马俑”这一对当代来说所具有的文化旅游性质的意向则会普遍的引导出外界对“现代兵马俑”制造者个人文化英雄主义者的期望。这不同于象Damian Hirst, Marc Quinn那样的艺术家，他们通过个人的、具体的对当今物质世界疯狂认识，形成了特有的处理这种感觉的方法。外界把这种洞察力和感觉力作为他们个人文化英雄主义者的标志。在岳敏君这样的艺术家这儿，“传统”却成为理解当代中国艺术家的个人文化英雄主义的一个重要方法。

1994年他搬到了宋庄，之后不久圆明园中的艺术家也全部离开了。如今他在宋庄有很好的工作室，与在圆明园时租住的村民平房自然不可同日而语。他的创作和他说话的态度一样，不徐不疾，一个系列接一个系列地画下来，有了“场景”、“处理”、“迷宫”等多个系列。他最新的系列是“迷宫”，已经画了有十多幅。采用系列的形式，他别有用意，“因为我把每一个想法都变成一个观念，所以就需要一个系列、一个系列地来画，这样观众也能看得清楚一点，明白我要表达的是个什么样的观念，比较好诉说一些。其他的模式需要更好的创作节奏，得慢慢再说，每一个想法都用一个很长的时间，来表现得充分一点。”在今日美术馆展览现场，最引人注目的就是“迷宫”系列的最新作品《毛杏兰》，画面上诸多元素在迷宫中并置，却没有那个标志小岛笑脸。“毛杏兰是我母亲的名字，我觉得她的一生，就像一个迷宫，她一生的迷宫和我们现在的状态差不多，我想表达的是一个中国人的探索的过程。”岳敏君如此解释自己的初衷。
以岳敏君自己的脸为原型，紧闭双眼，张嘴大笑，甚至有些痉挛的笑脸，现在已经是他的招牌主题了。每每有记者采访的时候，要求他面带画中的笑容和作品合影，但要作出那样的表情其实也并非易事，岳敏君认为这副笑脸和人生一样，“都是痛苦和喜悦交织。”“每一天都是痛苦的，每一天也都是开心的，人生可能不是能够完全忘记自我的快乐，笑脸也是这样，又快乐又很紧张，而且他很恐惧，他闭着眼睛是不愿看这个世界。”而他选择自己的脸作为原型，则是因为觉得自嘲是一种更好的选择。

岳敏君认为他关注的是绘画的形式，绘画怎样从添加转变减少，从而挑战绘画的规则。其实，绘画的添加并非物的添加，而是技术的添加，通过一定的技术实现再现的真实性，导致对真实的认可。《渔港新医》这样的作品正是由于其技术性而在当时引起广泛的注意。形象、外光、笔触与结构等不仅构成一个和谐灿烂的画面，也是中国油画技法的一个历史性突破。这种突破意味着前在技法的匮乏和文化专制所带来的普遍的压抑。然而，也正是技法掩盖了事实的真相，在那个年代，谁也不会去追问再现的真实性，这是政治宣传还是真实写照。在一个表象背后隐藏着多少严酷，普遍的贫困、缺医少药、知识分子迫害、现实的伪造，等等。文革以后，当真实反思现实的《父亲》这样的作品出来之后，文革的绘画仍被归结为一个形式的概念“红光亮”，而历史从未被清算，可能是因为政治宣传的体制本身没有被清算。人不能两次趟过同一条河流，当历史再度重现的时候，如在现代艺术史的写作中，在艺术市场的疯狂价位中，历史被美化了，“一切过去了的都会成为美好的回忆”。岳敏君的作品就是让历史以特殊的方式重现出来，他复制的只是历史的局部，去掉了中心人物，如同历史在记忆中的变形。人物是政治的载体，被遗忘的正是表象后面隐藏的政治的严酷，留下的场景似乎失去了意义，就像一幅普通的风景画，即使这种风景是为主题特定的。
确实，看岳敏君的作品，需要的是记忆与思考，我们如何识别与追问历史，他把残缺的历史呈现给我们，是因为历史被遗忘得太多。他的呈现在实质上也不是一种样式的追随，而也是一种复制，是对复活历史的复制。历史的正剧在喜剧中复活，不是历史的责任，而是今天的需要，有些是自愿的，有些则是无奈。

Yue Minjun was born in Heilongjiang, 1962 in Daqing, 1985 enrolled in the Department of fine arts of Hebei Normal University, Yue Minjun was born in Heilongjiang in Daqing in the early 60s, grew up with a lot of city transformation in the oil system for working parents. After graduating from high school, the Tianjin Offshore Oil Corporation has done two years of oil workers. As a result of childhood interest in painting, coupled with a few classmates and friends around have been painting, so with each other's influence, by 1985 admitted to the Department of art, Hebei Normal University. After graduating in 1989, he was assigned to an oil school as a teacher.
On the "self" is defined as the theme China contemporary art since 90s, for Chinese artists personally, the worship of the cognizance of "self image" has become a trademark of international and national identity. Yue Minjun's image (new idol) is widely accepted by the media and the public, and at the same time satisfies the magazine's need for the creation of contemporary new personal heroes with its contemporary unique self-awareness.
The 2000 start of the "modern Terracotta Army" trying to put some energy into the history of "self image" and "Terracotta Army" production, this is the nature of contemporary cultural tourism intention will generally lead to the outside of the "modern Terracotta Army" manufacturing personal heroism cultural expectations. This is different from artists like Damian Hirst, Marc Quinn, who, through their individual and specific knowledge of the physical world today, form a unique way of dealing with this feeling. The outside world this insight and perception as a symbol of their personal heroism of culture. The artist like Yue Minjun here, "traditional" has become an important method of personal heroism culture understanding of contemporary artists China.

In 1994 he moved to Songzhuang, shortly after the Old Summer Palace artists are all gone. He has a good studio in Songzhuang now, and rented in Old Summer Palace villagers cottage nature cannot be mention in the same breath. His creation and he spoke in the same manner, a series of connected neither fast nor slow, a series of pictures, the "Scene" and "treatment", "labyrinth" and other series. His latest series is the maze, has drawn more than and 10. A series of forms, he do not have the intention, "because I put every idea into a concept, so we need a series, a series of pictures, so that the audience can see clearly, understand what I want to express what is good about the concept of some. Other models need to create a better rhythm, have to say slowly, each idea with a very long time to show a little more fully." At the exhibition, Today Art Museum, the most notable is the "maze" series of the latest works of "Mao Xinglan", and many other elements on the screen in the maze without juxtaposition, the sign face island. "Mao Xinglan is my mother's name, I think her life, like a maze, the maze of her life and we are now almost the same state, I want to express is a Chinese exploration process." Yue Minjun so explained his original intention.
Yue Minjun's own face as a prototype, closed his eyes, mouth laugh, and even some of the spasm of the smiling face, is now his signature theme. I have an interview with reporters, he said with a smile and asked the work group, but to make that face actually is not easy, Yue Minjun think this smile and life, "are all the pain and joy intertwined." "Every day is painful, every day is happy, life may not be able to completely forget yourself happy, smile is so happy and very nervous, but he was scared, he closed his eyes to see the world." And he chose his own face as a prototype, it is because that self is a better choice.
Yue Minjun thought he was concerned with the form of painting, how to reduce the painting from the addition of change, thereby challenging the rules of painting. In fact, the addition of painting is not the addition of things, but the addition of technology, through a certain technology to achieve the authenticity of reproduction, resulting in real recognition. "Fishing" new such works because of its technology and caused widespread attention at the time. Image, external light, strokes and structure not only constitute a harmonious and splendid picture, but also a historical breakthrough of Chinese oil painting techniques. This kind of breakthrough means the lack of technique and the universal repression brought by cultural autocracy. However, it is the technique to cover up the truth, in that era, who will not ask the authenticity of reproduction, which is political propaganda or a true portrayal. In a number of hidden behind the appearance of severe, widespread poverty and persecution, the reality of the intellectuals, and forgery, etc.. After the cultural revolution, when true to reflect the reality of the "father" of such works, the Cultural Revolution was attributed to the concept of "painting is a form of red light", but history has never been liquidated, probably because of political propaganda system itself is not cleared. Two people can not go through the same river, when history again, as in the history of modern art in the art of writing, the crazy market price, the history is beautified. "All the past will become good memories". Yue Minjun's work is to make history reproduce in a special way, he copied only part of the history, removed the central figure, as the history of deformation in memory. Character is the carrier of politics, forgotten is behind the hidden political grim, leaving the scene seems to lose meaning, like a common landscape, even if the landscape is for the theme specific.
Indeed, look at Yue Minjun's works, need is memory and thinking, how we identify and ask history, he presented the incomplete history to us, because history is forgotten too much. His presentation in essence is not a style to follow, but also a copy, is a copy of the resurrection of history. The history of drama resurrection in comedy, not a historical responsibility, but today, some are voluntary, others are helpless.