Untitled 2013

This untitled painting by Sun Mu is like a flattened poster, yet it is all hand-painted, which is pretty wild! I wonder about the process of making something so flat. What does it mean to create something so happy, and so… round! The pink is so uniform, like a baby blanket, and it flattens the image. The characters of the happy child and the cartoon dog could almost float. It’s such a weird painting, but I admire how it creates a simple scene. It makes you think of other artists, like Elizabeth Peyton, with her loose brushstrokes and the idea of capturing the likeness of a celebrity, or someone famous. This painter has a similar touch, but with a totally different effect. The artist knows what painting can do, and knows how other painters paint, and it shows in this simple little painting.