Artwork Description

Title:Bit.1

Artist
Kan Sun

Date
2005

Medium:
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
86 ⅝ x 70 ⅞ in (220 x 180 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Bit.1 is a surreal, large-scale painting featuring an oversized hand, seemingly descending from the sky, poised above an urban landscape rendered with photographic realism. The hand floats above a panorama of rooftops, trees, and distant residential buildings, its fingers relaxed yet suggestive of some impending or divine intervention. The juxtaposition of bodily surrealism and cityscape realism prompts a quiet tension between imagination and reality.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Kan Sun’s Bit.1 exemplifies her distinctive fusion of surrealism and realism. Drawing on classical training from the Repin Academy and Chinese aesthetic principles, the artist manipulates scale, perspective, and composition to challenge the viewer’s perception. The disproportionate, sculptural hand contrasts with the meticulous rendering of architectural details, generating a dreamlike visual paradox reminiscent of Magritte or de Chirico, while remaining grounded in Kan’s psychological and philosophical inquiry.

3. Historical Context
Painted in 2005, Bit.1 was created during a vibrant era of transformation in the Chinese art world, as artists increasingly explored identity, alienation, and social critique through personal symbolism. Kan Sun, as a female artist educated in both China and Russia, brings a unique cross-cultural perspective, engaging with themes of control, memory, and the subconscious. Her “Bit” series reflects both the inner turmoil of post-industrial society and the universal condition of human introspection.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition with no visible damage or restoration required.

6. Artistic Significance
Bit.1 holds a key place in Kan Sun’s broader body of work for its conceptual richness and visual clarity. The oversized hand may symbolize intervention, fate, or the invisible forces shaping human existence. As with her celebrated piece Chatting, Kan blurs the boundaries between figuration and philosophy, inviting open interpretation and reflection. The work resonates deeply with collectors and scholars interested in post-socialist Chinese art, feminist visual languages, and metaphysical figuration.