Sun Xun shares a video montage of work he’s been creating in his studio in Bejing. In response to the lockdown Sun Xun stated, “I think there is no change for me. Normally, I don’t plan my work for more than one week. It is just a waste of time for me. The world or the situation is always changing, and the key is to feel the direction, and that’s enough for me. I am always ready for changes, and just like water flows through a river, changing its shape all the time on the riverbed. The world is like a drunken man. You must be drunk too.” - @sun_xun
Considered one of China’s most talented artists, #SunXun’s artistic practice combines meticulous craftsmanship with stylistic experimentation not limited to any one medium. Blurring the lines between drawing, painting, animation and installation, his work incorporates a wide array of materials. Painting, woodcuts, traditional Chinese ink and charcoal drawings are often combined to create the foundation of expressionistic, stop-motion animated films. These films are then presented in immersive settings, creating a theatre of memory for the visitor, filled with realistic and fantastical iconography.
Sun Xun was born in Fuxin, an industrial mining town in northeast China, and grew up in the period immediately following the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The lingering aftereffects of this movement continue to have a profound impact on his work, which often explores themes of global history, culture, memory and politics. He is especially interested in the way historical events are perceived and remembered by ordinary citizens versus how they are officially presented by public agencies and the media. Sun Xun’s work explores concepts of past versus present and personal versus political in symbolic and surrealist ways, often choosing to use animals and insects, rather than human characters, as the main protagonists in his stories.
Video published in @harpersbazaarus