Untitled 2011

This is a painting by Sun Mu, and as with many works executed in this medium, its meaning is deeply entwined with its materiality. Oil paint, traditionally a tool of the Western elite, is deployed here in service of social commentary. Notice how the artist coaxes the medium to create a hyperrealistic, slightly unsettling portrait of a young girl. The smooth, almost porcelain-like skin is built up with layers of pigment, a process demanding time, precision, and a high degree of skill. But the real skill lies in the implied narrative: the letter in the child's hand suggests a connection to broader geopolitical issues. Sun Mu, himself a defector from North Korea, infuses the work with a sense of longing and displacement. The choice of oil paint, a medium associated with power and status, becomes a pointed statement about the human cost of political division.