Sun Xun

FIELD MEETING
October 26th, 2014 New York City

Currently back in New York for a residency and solo exhibition at Sean Kelly Gallery, Shanghai based artist Sun Xun premiered one of his captivating new 3D films: “Magician Party and Dead Crow” (2013) at FIELD MEETING. He spoke about his choice of subject matter, use of multiple mediums, and aesthetic disciplines in his practice. Using animals and natural history museum window displays as metaphors for the human condition, political dynamics, and the construction of historicity, Sun Xun ponders: “how might an artist use the Cultural Revolution as material but not be political, in the narrow sense of the term?”.

Don’t miss a rare behind-the-scenes opportunity to interact with this incredibly talented and prolific artist at Sean Kelly Gallery throughout December. For the 2nd phase of his exhibition, he will be on site making drawings, paintings and a large mural, alongside his transplanted animation studio developing a new film work in progress.

> Watch Sun Xun’s Presentation

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Bio – SUN Xun (Beijing)

Sun Xun (b.1980, Fuxin, Liaoning, China) is an artist based in Beijing. He graduated in 2005 from the Print-making Department of the China Academy of Fine Arts. In 2006 he established π Animation Studio. During 2010 he has received several notable awards including the “Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA Best Young Artist)” and “Taiwan Contemporary Art Link Young Art Award”. Sun Xun predominantly makes monochromatic, highly detailed hand-drawn limited edition animation films and also exhibits his individual cell drawings and other mixed media works, sometimes alongside his films. His series of small mixed media works titled Shock of Time (2006) challenged notions of time, history and narration and utilized media such as newspapers, books and other documentary material that served to highlight certain passages of history. Other works have investigated the construction and narration of history, societal development and revolution and referencing such theorists as Marx, Adorno, and Horkheimer.

His recent film 21 KE (21 GRAMS) (2010) has had its world premiere at the new “Orizzonti” section at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, as the first Chinese animation film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Recent solo exhibitions include: Clown’s Revolution, Holland Animation Festival, Center Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands (2010); 21KE, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2010); The Soul of Time, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland (2010); Animals, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, U.S.A (2009); People’s Republic of Zoo, University of Essex Gallery, U.K.(2009); His Story, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai (2009); The New China, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A(2008); etc. Recent group exhibitions include: Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2014), By Day By Night or Some (Special) Things a Museum Can Do, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2010); China Power Station – Part 3, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Torino, Italy (2010); Aichi Tiennale 2010, Aichi, Japan (2010); 2009 Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria; etc.

(Source: https://franks-suss.com/the-collection/china/sun-xun/)

Sun Xun’s participation in FIELD MEETING was supported by Edouard Malingue Gallery

Sun Xun, Magician Party and Dead Crow, 2013, installation (wall painting, ink & color on paper, paper sculpture, and other materials). Courtesy Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong.