Sun Xun’s amazing large scale painting at MCA Sydney

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney is hosting a solo exhibition of the Young Chinese artist Sun Xun. The show features some of the artist’s most important works like 21 grams (2010), Magician Party and Dead Crow (2016), Mythological Time 09, (2016), Time Spy (2017) along with some newspapers paintings and Maniac Universe  (2018) an installation commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Edouard Malingue Gallery.

Beside  Museum of Contemporary Art Curator Anna Davis has invited Sun Xun for a residency to create a large scale installation in view of the public during the first week of the show. (See images of the work in process below) The exhibition is running until 14 October 2018. Entry is free. The exhibition’s catalogue is available (on sale) online.

Sun Xun Untitled (MCA Residency Painting) 2018 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 mixed media Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney © the artist Photograph: Jacquie Manning

Sun Xun Untitled (MCA Residency Painting) 2018 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 mixed media Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney © the artist Photograph: Jacquie Manning

Sun Xun Untitled (MCA Residency Painting) 2018 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 mixed media Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney © the artist Photograph: Jacquie Manning

 “I’ve made beautiful works and ugly works. I have ferocious pieces, but also very gentle ones. I talk about politics but I also talk about time. I talk about Chinese politics and Western politics. Everybody thinks that in China you have to be a dissident, critical of the government, but I’ve been to Western countries and seen many things that are laughable. Those have become equal sources of inspiration.” said Sun Xun in an interview with John McDonald for the Sydney Morning Herald

Sun Xun, 21 Grams (still), 2010, image courtesy the artist.

Sun Xun 21 Grams (still)  2010 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 single-channel animation video, sound Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney ©the artist Photograph: Jacquie Manning

Sun Xun, Magician Party and Dead Crow (still), 2016, image courtesy and © the artist.

In an interview MCA curator Anna Davis says about Sun Xun’s art practice: “Part of the post-1980s generation, Sun Xun is someone who is drawing on Chinese art traditions but who transforms them into this incredible new way of working, experimenting with things like 3D and glow-in-the-dark ink. Blending imagery from the dawn of the universe, ancient times, modernity and the 21st century, he is crashing time periods together in a way that opens up new perspectives on China’s recent past.” to read the full interview please visit MCA Sydney

Sun Xun, Invisible Magic  2018 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 ink on paper, wood, paper  Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Edouard Malingue Gallery Image courtesy and © the artist  Photograph: Jacquie Manning

Sun Xun, Invisible Magic, 2018, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Edouard Malingue Gallery, image courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Deng Jing

Sun Xun, Mythological Time 09, 2016, image courtesy the artist and ShanghART Gallery and © the artist.

Sun Xun Newspaper Paintings  2015–18 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 ink and colour on newspaper Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney © the artist Photograph: Jacquie Manning

Sun Xun Maniac Universe  2018 installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2018 mixed media on bark paper, UV-A light  Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Edouard Malingue Gallery Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney © the artist Photograph: Jacquie Manning

Sun Xun, Time Spy (still), 2016, image courtesy and © the artist.

Sun Xun made his Time Spy 3D animation using more than 10,000 separate woodblocks. Here is a video where tells White Rabbit about the process and his inspiration.

To better understand the process here is another video where Sun Xun demonstrates his woodcarving process in relation to his video practice.

Sun Xun has had numerous exhibitions internationally in important art institutions, including in Tales of Our Time at  The Guggenheim Museum (2016), in  Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2014), and in Prediction Laboratory at YUZ Museum in Shanghai (2016). The artist participates regularly in various international film festivals such as Oberhausen Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.