Story | Connie Li Photos | Louis Vuitton, Yitian Sun
Born in 1991, Yitian Sun has seen a meteoric rise in the attention her artworks have generated. In less than a decade, her pieces are now exhibited in renowned galleries and art institutes around the world, and her collaborations with renowned fashion brands like Louis Vuitton have been stunningly successful.
After graduating with an Oil Painting major from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 2015 and a master’s degree three years later, the prestige and rewards that many artists take a lifetime to pursue came rapidly for Sun.
Opportunities
Her works were curated at the BANK Gallery, Esther Schipper in Berlin, Mine Projects of Hong Kong, UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art, Frieze London, Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain and others. She is also listed among “2023: Forbes China Contemporary Young Artists” and Forbes 30 under-30 Asia 2019, and was named WSJ’s ON THE FIELD 2022-2023 “Creator of the Year”, as well as “Young Artist of the Year 2022” by BEST OF THE BEST….
With fame, opportunities follow, and invitations from art organizations continue to roll in. Fashion brands also vie for crossover collaborations, with Louis Vuitton winning the right to use the animal images in her “Artificial Objects” collection for its Women’s Pre-fall 2024 collection. This break took Sun by surprise.
“When I was approached for this collaboration, I was instantly thrilled,” she says. “Louis Vuitton is an icon among luxury brands. It is also closely related to the theme of my work.
“After the collaboration was confirmed, we discussed the selections and the brand chose nine paintings from my ‘Artificial Objects’ collection. Seven animal images have been used for the pre-fall collection.
“Before confirming the collaboration, the brand had a great understanding of what my works intend to transpire and the theme. Then the brand’s workshop handled the design of the collection. The theme of my paintings is about the transformation from cheap objects to artworks and then to luxury products. Through the collaboration, my ideas have been translated into a design language, making the discussion on ‘symbols’ richer and more vivid.”
Before Sun went to Beijing for her studies, she grew up in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, which had factories everywhere making small objects. Her childhood memories were filled with cheap and cheerful toys from mass production lines that inspired her “Artificial Objects” collection.
“It was fun to see my designs re-interpreted with different materials and innovative techniques to recreate the animal toys on garments, luggage, scarves, shoes and fragrance, in print or embroidery.
“In my works, an inconspicuous object is gigantically enlarged to two to three meters, seemingly swallowing up the people in the exhibition space. It feels very different. You can see this play on proportions in the rabbit charm of the rabbit bag is actually larger than the bag, unlike usual bag charms. That reflects the proportion of the objects in my paintings.”
The crossover has given her the opportunity to enrich her creative ideas of turning a cheap object into luxury. “Cheap wholesale products show up in my works and become highly valuable artworks curated in galleries,” she says. “In this collaboration with a fashion brand, these objects have entered the commercial production and distribution chain. This has radically changed their eventual presentation, involvement and audience.”
Sun is particularly partial to all the spotted dog items, and faithfully carries around her spotted dog bag. “ That dog was my pet. It was a small stray in bad shape when I adopted her. Such strays are very common in neighborhoods in China. I turned it into art, and now it is part of an exquisitely crafted luxury fashion collection. How amazing!”
Beyond creating a whimsical women’s collection, Sun also uses the experience as handy thesis material for her PhD. “I got to know about the fashion industry through this collaboration—how a brand is conceived, how to build prestige over time, how to engage an audience and how to achieve commercial success. These are all about the refraction of human desires and the construction of ‘symbols’ in modern society. I got a lot of inspiration from it, so one chapter of my thesis discusses the birth of objects under consumerism.”
Challenges
Liberalization, social progress and technological innovation have presented unprecedented creative room and means for young artists born in the 1990s like her. Different forms of crossover collaboration are giving rise to more artistic styles. But challenges and opportunities often come in tandem.
Sun learned to paint at four, and attended the Youth Art School in Wenzhou in her primary years. She then studied in the secondary school attached to the CAFA and continued on to CAFA. The rest is history.
Artists are often thought of as people with rich life experiences and stories. Sun’s trajectory is different, and so she is deemed the “lucky one”. Is her success sheer luck?“
The entrenched perception is the tormented artists. But that’s not necessarily true. Just as Picasso said, he spent his whole life learning how to paint like a child,” she says. “ To me, sensitivity is very important. Meticulous observation of things around us and a unique understanding of the world are keys. Whether it is a leaf or an ocean, we can find a precise way to express them. This has nothing to do with whether life experience is rich or not. My works reflect the world I sense.”
However, she admits there is pressure as much as motivation for achieving fame at a young age.
“One of my artist friends says he is envious of the young and famous for having it easy.“I think it’s not necessarily a blessing that an artist’s work is popular. People habitually remember a person in symbols. Yet an artist’s characteristics and style are fluid. I refuse to define my work in mere symbols. I should never stop challenging myself, breaking through myself and surpassing myself.
The ever-evolving technology is also forcing artists to accept new concepts. For example, AI can generate a visually rich and mature work based on an eight-year-old’s doodles. Sun is neither flustered nor jumping on the bandwagon.
“A friend has helped me train an AI model to mimic my paintings, and generated some ‘fakes’ that look like my works. These images look more like the ‘works’ of my works. I painted an AI-generated bird into an original artwork.
“Every person has a personal creative tool that is an extension of oneself. To me, AI is a creative tool. It comes down to how to use it well. Texture is most important in a painting. AI-generated or digital images are inherently different.”
Sun has more and more opportunities to exhibit. A personal exhibition in a Berlin gallery is coming up in April next year. So how does she deal with critiques?
“When I first became a career artist, I cared about critiques. As I believe in my work more and more, I am more certain what I want to create. Critique is not that important anymore. I will continue to listen to helpful opinions, and do it my way.”
Relax
Though life with fame is hectic and noisy, Sun gives herself a break after each painting, whether it is shedding everything for a soak in a public spa, going for a swim, hiking or walking in the park. She finds makeup, beauty routines and staying fashionable bothersome. The only exception is doing her nails. At the time of the interview, her nails were blue with black highlights.
“I think nail beauty is like painting. The dark spots on my nails are the eyes of the animals in my paintings. In the light, the sparkle dots like the pupils of eyes.”
She describes her work and lifestyle as “reclusive”. Youth is good, because one can simply focus on balancing life and work, without defining life with long-term goals. She is open to more crossovers with fashion brands.
“Brands will evolve, and so will artists. It will be good when the right collaboration opportunity comes up again. Painting is a twodimensional art. If the collaboration with a fashion brand involves simply using an image, it is relatively simple and easy to operate. But I think a better form of collaboration is that the interaction of an artist’s ideas and a brand’s ideas lead to something new. Then the product will be interesting.
“Art and fashion, or art and brands, can generate new sparks only if the conversation is on an equal footing. A good crossover should be mutually beneficial. An artist should be certain about what he/she is doing when getting involved in a commercial activity. Be precious about your features. Don’t consume yourself. To me, focusing on your own creation is most important.”
Her future plans are simple—paint away.
