Two of my favourite buildings in Macau for cultural activities are the Macau Art Museum and the Macau Science Centre – both designed by architect I.M Pei, probably most known for Pyramide du Louvre in Paris to the layman.
Both these beautifully designed spaces in Macau seem to be under publicised and somewhat under utilised with the luxury of space, tremendously high ceilings, lots of architectural play on light and shadows.
The current Yue Minjun show “Neo-idolatry” is on till 16 February 2014 and showcases an eclectic mix of his works, which goes behind those huge laughing self portraits of himself in sculptures and paintings.
In the curator’s words, “Yue is creating an ‘idol’ with features of Chinese history and zeitgeist rather than imitating his own consistent facial expression.” About time, we move beyond the stereotypical pop culture Yue Minjun look and dig a little deeper than his larger than life exaggerated self portraits.
This reminds me very much of Wang Shugang’s squating bronze men, a show I co-curated when I worked at The Opposite House, Beijing. You can read more about that here.
There are several other shows going on at the Museum, including a whole exhibition on the history of tea featuring beautiful historical teapots and various sculptural pieces from international artists.
Macau Art Museum
Macao Culture Centre,
Av. Xian Xing Hai S/N NAPE Macao
Free admission on Sundays.
