Year: 2005
Medium: Hand drawn animation
Dimensions: 2m 12s running time
Brief biography: b. 1980, Fuxin, China. Lives and works in Beijing.
Growing up in an industrial mining town in north east China, in a period following the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the lingering after effects of this movement have a profound impact on Xun’s work. Exploring global history, culture, memory and politics, Xun is particularly interested in the way historical events are perceived and remembered by ‘ordinary’ citizens compared to official and media representations and reports. Sun Xun is acclaimed for his ability to combine traditional craft techniques and mediums, including painting, woodcut, ink and charcoal drawing, with digital technologies and stop-motion animation. Much of his work utilises folk and vernacular imagery to consider China’s history, and the ways in which the nation has articulated itself.
A War About Chinese Words is one of Sun Xun’s earliest works. A hand-drawn animation, the artist created a story using Chinese characters, in which simple lines and strokes morph between letters, figures and animals – moving and fighting together across the screen. Xun is acclaimed for his ability to combine traditional craft techniques and mediums, including painting, woodcut, ink and charcoal drawing, with digital technologies and stop-motion animation. Much of his work utilizes folk and vernacular imagery to consider China’s history, and the ways in which the nation has articulated itself. He is particularly interested in the ways historical events are perceived and remembered by ‘ordinary’ citizens compared to official and media representations and reports. A War About Chinese Words gestures towards the conflicts at play when trying to address these contradictory historical narratives: words put to battle, stories fighting for the opportunity to be seen, read, or heard.
Sun Xun, A War about Chinese Words, 2005. Installation shot at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool. Photograph by Pete Carr.
Sun Xun graduated in 2005 from the printmaking department of the China Academy of Fine Arts. In 2006, he established Pi animation studio. During 2010, he received several notable awards including the CCAA Best Young Artist and Taiwian Contemporary Art Link Young Art Award.
Exhibitions include: Time Spy, St Louis Art Museum, Missouri, USA (2018); Sun Xun, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia (2018); PRESENCE: A Window into Chinese Contemporary Art, St. George’s Hall, Liverpool (2018); Midnight Moment: Time Spy, Times Square Arts, New York, USA (2017); Tears of Chiwen, Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2017); Time Spy, Sean Kelly, New York, New York, USA (2017); Time Spy, E MOCA, Shenzhen, China (2017); What happened in the year of the Dragon at the CFCCA, Manchester (2015).
Gallery page for artist: http://www.skny.com/artists/sun-xun