Sun Yitian Ken, 2025

The painting places the head of a doll, a characteristic motif of the artist, in an architectural setting based on a work by the Italian Renaissance artist Fra Carnevale (active c. 1445-1484), The Annunciation. Removing the archangel Gabriel and the Virgin, and multiplying the bird who in the source image represents the Holy Ghost—Sun Yitian has entirely changed the meaning of the setting, while capturing the stillness of the scene. Her Ken figure is deliberately outside of the motif, his head casting a shadow and his object-status highlighted by the flecks of light visible on his dark forelock.

The work further develops major themes of the artist, namely her exploration of tradition of religious imagery in Western painting and its adaptation in Chinese devotional objects. Having seen religious imagery at a young age before encountering Western paintings, to Sun Yitian the question of meaning and of authenticity are important subject of her paintings. For example, where does the religious meaning reside? Does a mass produced statue register differently as symbol of religious devotion than a painted masterpiece? Another point of reference are the representations of Western cities or those of fairy-tale settings in Chinese theme parks. To the artist these evoke questions of authenticity and the hyperreal: is one more authentic than the other?