The catalog is being published on the occasion of Sun Yitian's third solo exhibition at Esther Schipper in Berlin in May 2025. In recent years, the artist has gained international attention. She is known for her colorful acrylic paintings of mass-produced objects, mostly depicted from photographs she has staged herself. Painted in bright colors, inflatable toys or doll heads initially appear hyperreal, but on closer inspection dissolve into painterly abstraction. In this way, Sun Yitian addresses the tension between banality and pathos, consumer culture and individual expressiveness. The volume offers a comprehensive insight into her work and, in addition to numerous illustrations, includes a conversation between the artist and Udo Kittelmann as well as an essay by Chus Martínez.

Sun Yitian (born 1991, Zhejiang) lives and works in Beijing. She studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and is currently pursuing a doctorate at Tsinghua University. Her works have been exhibited at the Yuz Museum Shanghai, UCCA Edge, and Esther Schipper Berlin, among others.