Sun You: Melodramatic Soul Crushing Saturday Morning

Thoughts and intents on Melodramatic Soul Crushing Saturday Morning, a solo exhibition at Ditch Projects by Sun You

I have been thinking about size in art. Often in galleries and exhibition spaces, size holds significance. To establish oneself as a serious artist, it sometimes seems necessary to create large-scale, expensively fabricated works. Many galleries now boast museum-sized spaces, with attendant expectations of large scale objects. Even art not intended for sale, such as installation art, often seeks to command and fill vast expanses.

In my work, I prioritize flexibility and lightness. My work does not demand fixed production sites; it can be easily packed and spontaneously created within the spaces and materials at hand. I produce art that accommodates life, avoiding excess size. I aim for a modest sublime without extreme transformation.

For this exhibition, Melodramatic Soul Crushing Saturday Morning, I chose to go small, dotting the gallery with small polymer clay sculptures that leave ample room for viewers to wander and explore. At first glance, the exhibition may appear almost empty, but this is an invitation: to look more closely, to engage with the works one on one, to have an experience that is both intimate and deliberate.

The sculptures are the result of simple manipulations: clay is pulled, cut, scattered, flattened with a rolling pin, re-cut, and rearranged into new forms, all using familiar domestic tools like a cake knife and Parchment paper. These sculptures are then baked in batches in my home oven.