Sun Xun. The New China, 2008. Mixed media installation and animation. Installation at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Sun Xun, a Chinese artist born in 1980 and living in Hangzhou, creates animations that combine hand-drawn renderings and traditional materials with new media. He studied printmaking at the China Academy of Fine Arts, but a burgeoning interest in moving images led him to found his own animation studio in 2006. To create his meticulous animations, Sun Xun produces a multitude of drawings that incorporate text within the image. His subjects range from elements found in world history and politics, to natural organisms. He then films the drawings, sequentially one at a time, to create a sense of movement and suggest the passing of time, the machinations of history, and the beauty inherent in simple forms. For over a week, Sun Xun will inhabit the Vault Gallery to develop a new animated, site-related video and drawing installation.

Sun Xun was born in 1980 in Fuxin, Laioning Province, China, and lives in Hangzhou, where he studied at the China Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China. In 2006 he founded Pi, his animation studio. His films have been screened at numerous festivals, including, in 2007 alone, the 25th Torino Film Festival, Torino, Italy; the 8th Seoul International Film Festival; the 53rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany, and the MECAL International Short Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain. Sun Xun’s work was recently included in China Power Station: Part II at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway, and his work has also been exhibited at the ShanghART and the Duolun Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai, among many other institutions throughout China. This is Sun Xun’s first exhibition in an American museum.