Inspired by loud colours and artificial textures, Sun Yitian ’s oeuvre comprises a fascinating study of perspective. The Beijing-based artist creates optical illusions, painting objects, often plastic and inflatable, in a fashion so realistic that they appear to pop out from the canvas. Sun is a master puppeteer of light and form— her refined technique in manipulating geometrical shapes, shades, and colour gradings give her works a unique quality that is simultaneously photo-realistic and cartoonish.
Born in 1991, Sun is one of China’s most exciting new contemporary artists. The young artist studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China, receiving her BFA in 2015 and her MFA in 2018. Creating works across a vast array of media— from paintings to installations and performance— her oeuvre has been widely exhibited both locally and internationally, including in venues such as The Metropolitan Pavilion in New York, and the Macau Museum of Art.
The present work, Let Me In, was executed in 2015. The painting is fully two-dimensional, portraying what appears to be a green canvas split down the middle, revealing the white layer behind it. It instantly brings to mind the works of Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana, whose oeuvre is characterised by bold, single-colour canvases that have been cut and slashed. While Fontana’s paintings are physically sliced, Sun creates a similar kind of effect, portraying depth and dimension on a completely flat surface. The present work, which fully showcases Sun’s skill in utilising light and shadow, marks the artist's debut at auction.
Lucio Fontana, Concetta spaziale Attese, 1967
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Exhibited
Beijing, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Annual Graduation Exhibition, 1 – 30 June 2015