More often than not, great art is the culmination of great talent mixed with great experience. But every now and then comes along someone who is mature beyond their years.
Some artists blossom early in their career while some are late. Sun Yuxi, a 17-year-old student whose solo exhibition of 120 artistic photographs is currently running at the Deke Erh Art Center, most definitely belongs to the first category.
"I had a joint exhibition of Sun and another girl at my place this summer," says Deke Erh, owner of the art center. "At the time she told me she was preparing a photo show of her own, but to be honest I did not show much interest. But later, when I saw her pictures, I was immediately taken by them."
In fact Erh, one of the best-known Chinese photographers in the West, is high in his praise of Sun's work.
"The girl is sensitive, and so is her camera. The subject, content and the surrounding are all beside the point. She can find what she wants any place and her dynamic perspective can be either macroscopic or microscopic."
Born in Shanghai in 1991, Sun is a student at Shanghai Foreign Language School which is affiliated with the Shanghai International Studies University.
Titled "See the Unseen," her exhibition is divided into four sections - Open Country, Countryside, Fragments and Remains.
It is hard to believe that so young a girl is able to see things the way her senior does - like the sunshade mirrored in an expanse of water the mud stains on glass disused nails and the abandoned plant.
"They are nothing unusual," says Sun. The subjects she chooses are Oriental, yet her approach is Western and modern.
It seems she is sensitive to the revival of anything dilapidated and reveals the spirit that has not yet slipped away.
She captures minute and subtle changes in the process of aging, making it incredible for viewers to believe that the photos were shot by someone so inexperienced in life.
(Shanghai Daily November 12, 2008)
