Sun Yitian Storm, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
208,6 x 161,6 x 9 cm (framed)
For Storm, Sun Yitian has cleverly adapted her characteristic motif, the monumentally enlarged mass produced inflatable toys lovingly rendered in their clear status as objects. Storm, in contrast, is based on a vintage doll from the late 19th century which has long outlived the children who may have played with it. The artist has altered the source, making the figure more human-like. Sun Yitian has also embellished the small household of objects contained in the space shielded by the skirt with citations from famous still-life paintings, among them works by Jean Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) and Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), as well as quoting from her own paintings of grapes. The figure stands in a dramatic landscape, a thunderbolt traversing the sky and on the left a luminous pink horizon may indicate sunset or dawn.
To the artist, the doll represents the continued association of women with the realm of domesticity. Although the doll is German-made and the figure European-looking, the work also refers to the long-standing Confucian tradition of gender inequality in China. Her exasperation is given voice by the ancient Greek poet Sappho: a small note inside the doll's skirt reads "I said, Sappho/ Enough!", quoting from a famous love poem. The original is even more melancholy, it continues: "Why/ Try to move/ A hard heart?"
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