Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

'''Sun Yuan''' (born 1972) and '''Peng Yu''' (born 1974) are Chinese conceptual artists<ref name="economist">{{Cite news |title=Seeing red |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2005/06/23/seeing-red |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240413205341/https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2005/06/23/seeing-red |archive-date=2024-04-13 |access-date=2024-06-02 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref> whose work has a reputation for being confrontational and provocative.<ref>Marlow, Tim, The Independent, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001119/ai_n14353576 Visual Art: East meets West in new cultural revolution] from [http://findarticles.com FindArticles.com]{{cbignore}}</ref> They have lived and worked collaboratively in Beijing since the late 1990s.<ref name="grassi">{{Cite web |last=Yuan, Yu |first=Sun, Peng |title=Sun Yuan / Peng Yu - The World Belongs to You - Palazzo Grassi Venice |url=http://www.palazzograssi.it/en/exhibition/world-belongs-to-you/room-map/sun-yuan-peng-yu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906194055/http://www.palazzograssi.it/en/exhibition/world-belongs-to-you/room-map/sun-yuan-peng-yu |archive-date=6 September 2012 |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref>

In 2001, they won the Contemporary Chinese Art Award.<ref name="artnet">{{Cite web |title=ArtNet.com |url=http://www.artnet.com/artist/424834628/sun-yuan--peng-yu.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307050849/http://www.artnet.com/artist/424834628/sun-yuan--peng-yu.html |archive-date=2008-03-07 |access-date=2008-03-12}}</ref> They create pieces that dive deep into human nature, psychological, and political experiences. They are well known for utilising controversial materials such as live animals, and human cadavers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2024-02-02 |title=Sun Yuan and Peng Yu |url=https://artrkl.com/blogs/news/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=ArtRKL |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Sun Yuan was born in Beijing, China in 1972 and Peng Yu was born in Heilongjiang, China in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunyuan & Pengyu |url=http://sunyuanpengyu.com/artist/sunyuan_pengyu.html |access-date=2024-04-13 |website=sunyuanpengyu.com}}</ref> The two met each other while attending at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where they both studied oil painting.<ref name="artrkl" /> ==Career== After completing their studies in the 1990s, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu had short solo careers that set an artistic foundation for their partnership in the early 2000s.<ref name="artrkl">{{Cite web |date=2024-02-02 |title=Sun Yuan and Peng Yu |url=https://artrkl.com/blogs/news/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=ArtRKL |language=en}}</ref> The two began making "non-normative and unconventional art" in the 2000s.<ref name="sunyuanpengyu">{{Cite web |title=works |url=http://sunyuanpengyu.com/works/all.html |access-date=2024-04-13 |website=sunyuanpengyu.com |archive-date=2024-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414172307/http://sunyuanpengyu.com/works/all.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life== They were married in 2000.<ref name="artrkl" />

==Work== [[File:Old persons home by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu.jpg|thumb|450px|right|''Old Persons Home'' by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Saatchi Gallery, London]] Sun Yuan & Peng Yu have created Kinetic art and Installation art pieces that work to incorporate unconventional and organic materials into artworks and create "statement" pieces about the current systems of political and social authority.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Sun Yuan and Peng Yu |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> These materials include taxidermy, human cadavers, live animals, and machinery.<ref name=":1" /> They have utilized technology and multi media art to "comment critically on the modern understanding and exercise of political constructs like the nation-state, sovereign territory, freedom, and democracy."<ref name=":3" />

In 1999, the couple contributed to the exhibition, ''Post-Sense Sensibility'': ''Alien Bodies and Delusion,'' curated by Qiu Zhijie and Wu Meichun.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Archive |first=Asia Art |title=Post-Sense Sensibility: Alien Bodies & Delusion |url=https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/library/post-sense-sensibility-alien-bodies-delusion |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=aaa.org.hk |language=en}}</ref> Their piece, entitled ''Honey,'' featured the face of an elderly man, embedded in a bed of dry ice, with a curled up foetus next to it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honey-SUN YUAN & PENG YU |url=http://www.sunyuanpengyu.com/263.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=www.sunyuanpengyu.com}}</ref> Both these bodies were not sculptural works, instead cadavers were utilised.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eschenburg |first=Madeline |date=October 2023 |title=The Corpse and Humanist Discourse: Dead Bodies in Contemporary Chinese Art |journal=Arts |language=en |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=217 |doi=10.3390/arts12050217 |doi-access=free |issn=2076-0752}}</ref>

For the 2005 Venice Biennale, the duo invited Chinese farmer Du Wenda to present his homemade UFO at the Chinese Pavilion.<ref name="economist" />

The 2008 installation ''Old People's Home'', comprised 13 hyperrealistic sculptures of elderly world leaders, including Yasser Arafat and Leonid Brezhnev, in electric wheelchairs set to automatically wander through the room and bump into one another.<ref name="telegraph">{{Cite web |last=Dorment |first=Richard |date=7 October 2008 |title=Review: The Revolution Continues: New Art From China at the Saatchi Gallery |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3561773/Review-The-Revolution-Continues-New-Art-From-China-at-the-Saatchi-Gallery.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306213941/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3561773/Review-The-Revolution-Continues-New-Art-From-China-at-the-Saatchi-Gallery.html |archive-date=2023-03-06 |access-date=2016-03-05 |website=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="saatchi">{{Cite web |last=Yuan, Yu |first=Sun, Peng |title=Sun Yuan and Peng yu |url=http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/yu_yuan.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201072800/http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/yu_yuan.htm |archive-date=1 December 2007 |access-date=23 April 2012 |website=saatchi}}</ref>

''Angel'' (2008), was a fibreglass angel sculpture complete with flesh-covered wings, white hair, and frighteningly realistic skin that featured details like wrinkles, sunspots, and peach fuzz.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Angel-SUN YUAN & PENG YU |url=http://www.sunyuanpengyu.com/177.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=www.sunyuanpengyu.com}}</ref><ref name="artnet2015">{{Cite web |date=28 July 2015 |title=Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's Fallen Angel |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu-fallen-angel-320428 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227195901/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu-fallen-angel-320428 |archive-date=2015-12-27 |access-date=2016-03-05 |website=artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref>

Their 2009 solo exhibition, ''Freedom'', at Tang Contemporary in Beijing, featured a large firehose hooked to a chain that erupted water spray at a distance of 120 meters and thrashed throughout an enormous metal cage.<ref name="timeout">[https://www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing/aroundtown/feature/8144/of-corpse-we-can.html Duff, Stacey, Time Out Beijing,"Of Corpse We Can"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711153318/http://www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing/aroundtown/feature/8144/of-corpse-we-can.html |date=2009-07-11 }}</ref>

Their 2016 work, ''Can’t Help Myself'' was commissioned for the Guggenheim Museum and displayed as part of their ''Tales of Our Time'' exhibition.<ref name=":0" /> The work consisted of a large KUKA industrial robot with a robotic arm and visual sensors behind clear acrylic walls.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Can't Help Myself|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34812|access-date=2022-01-14|website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-08-27|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220827024724/https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34812|url-status=live}}</ref> The robot was programmed to endlessly attempt to sweep red, viscous, blood-like liquid into a circle around its base, in the process spreading and splattering the "blood." It was also programmed with thirty-two "dance moves" and reacted to people around it.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sun Yuan & Peng Yu {{!}} Can't Help Myself (2016) Artsy|url=https://www.artsy.net/artwork/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu-cant-help-myself|access-date=2022-01-14|website=www.artsy.net|archive-date=2022-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114020540/https://www.artsy.net/artwork/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu-cant-help-myself|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Bax|first=Christine|date=2020-07-27|title=Watching Can't Help Myself is like looking at a caged animal • Hypercritic|url=https://www.hypercritic.org/experience/art/contemporary-art/sun-yuan-peng-yu-cant-help-myself-review/|access-date=2022-01-14|website=Hypercritic|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112153308/https://www.hypercritic.org/experience/art/contemporary-art/sun-yuan-peng-yu-cant-help-myself-review/|url-status=live}}</ref> These "dance moves" became more "depressed" and erratic as time went on, and eventually stopped operating in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dazed |date=2022-01-18 |title=A dystopian robot arm is taking over TikTok, but what does it really mean? |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/55253/1/dystopian-robot-arm-taking-over-tiktok-what-does-it-really-mean-cant-help-myself |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Dazed |language=en |archive-date=2022-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129021428/https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/55253/1/dystopian-robot-arm-taking-over-tiktok-what-does-it-really-mean-cant-help-myself |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Can't Help Myself'' was also displayed in the 2019 Venice Biennale's main exhibition, "May You Live in Interesting Times."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Greenberger|first=Alex|date=2022-01-13|title='Me Watching Y'all Cry Over a Robot Scooping Red Paint': Sun Yuan and Peng Yu Installation Becomes Bizarre Viral Hit on Social Media|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sun-yuan-peng-yu-cant-help-myself-twitter-tiktok-1234615686/|access-date=2022-01-14|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114021112/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sun-yuan-peng-yu-cant-help-myself-twitter-tiktok-1234615686/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the controversial<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/arts/design/dogs-fighting-guggenheim.html|title = Guggenheim Exhibit with Video of Dogs Trying to Fight Stirs Criticism|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 22 September 2017|last1 = Haag|first1 = Matthew|access-date = 17 May 2018|archive-date = 17 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180517150826/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/arts/design/dogs-fighting-guggenheim.html|url-status = live}}</ref> ''Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other'', eight dogs (four pairs facing one another) were strapped onto treadmills in a public installation.<ref name="onscreentoday">{{Cite web |title=Or Else It's Not Utopian |url=http://www.onscreentoday.com/conversation/or-else-its-not-utopian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306053738/http://www.onscreentoday.com/conversation/or-else-its-not-utopian |archive-date=2016-03-06 |access-date=2016-03-05 |website=onscreentoday.com|date=2 June 2015 }}</ref> It used living dogs for performance as part of the art. It was purposely provocative, and organizations such as PETA criticized the piece.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-09-25 |title=Guggenheim's Dogfighting Display Is 'Sick': PETA Says Pull the Plug |url=https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/guggenheims-dogfighting-display-sick-peta-says-pull-plug/ |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=PETA |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129021429/https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/guggenheims-dogfighting-display-sick-peta-says-pull-plug/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was part of the exhibition “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World”.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/art-and-china-after-1989-theater-of-the-world |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-01-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240124224304/https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/art-and-china-after-1989-theater-of-the-world |url-status=live }}</ref> The Guggenheim later released a statement, explaining the artist’s intentions. This piece was eventually removed from the Guggenheim’s digital archive.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statement on the video work "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other" |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/press-release/statement-on-the-video-work-dogs-that-cannot-touch-each-other |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-01-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240124224309/https://www.guggenheim.org/press-release/statement-on-the-video-work-dogs-that-cannot-touch-each-other |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Selected exhibitions== '''1997''' * ''Counter-Perspectives'': The Environment & Us, Beijing * ''Inside'', Tongdao Gallery Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing <ref>{{cite web |last=Yuan, Yu |first=Sun, Peng |title=Sun Yuan and Peng Yu |url=http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/yu_yuan.htm |accessdate=24 April 2012 |archive-date=1 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201072800/http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/yu_yuan.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

'''1999'''

* Post-Sense Sensibility Alien Bodies & Delusion (Basement), Beijing<ref name=":2" /> '''2000''' * ''Indulge in Hurt'', Sculpture Research Fellow of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing * 5th Biennale of Lyon, Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France * ''Fuck Off''!, Donglang Gallery, Shanghai '''2001''' * ''Get Out of Control'', Berlin, Germany * Yokohama 2001 International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Yokohama, Japan * Winner: The Contemporary Chinese Art Award of CCAA, Beijing '''2002''' * The First Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Art Museum, Guangzhou, China '''2003''' * ''Second-Hand Reality: Post-Reality'', Today Art Museum, Beijing, China * ''Left Wing'', Beijing * ''Return to Nature'', Shenghua Arts Centre, Nanjing, China '''2004''' * Ghent Spring, Contemporary Art Financial Award, Ghent, Belgium (solo) * ''Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video From China'', Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA * ''Australia: Asia Traffic'', Asia-Australia Arts Centre * ''The Virtue and the Vice: le Moine et le Demon'', Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France * ''All Under Heaven: Ancient and Contemporary Chinese Art'', The Collection of the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation, MuHKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium * ''What is Art''?, Shanxi Art Museum, Xi’an, China * Australia - Asia Traffic, Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Australia * Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea '''2005''' * ''Higher'', F2 Gallery, Beijing, China (solo) * ''Mahjong: Chinese Contemporary Art from Uli Sigg Collection'', Art Museum Bern, Switzerland * The 51st Venice Biennale (China Pavilion), Venice * ''To Each His Own'', Zero Art Space, Beijing * Ten Thousand Years Post-Contemporary City, Beijing '''2006''' * ''Liverpool Biennial'', Tang Contemporary Art, Liverpool, UK '''2009''' * ''Unveiled: New Art From The Middle East'', Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

'''2016'''

* ''Tales of Our Time'', Guggenheim Museum, NY<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/tales-of-our-time|title=Tales of Our Time|date=2016-04-04|newspaper=Guggenheim|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-03|archive-date=2016-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220040305/https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/tales-of-our-time|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References== <references/>

==External links== *The artists’ [http://www.sunyuanpengyu.com/ official site] *Sun Yuan and Peng Yu on [http://www.artnet.com/artists/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu/ ArtNet.com] *Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s contribution to the [http://universes-in-universe.de/car/yokohama/trien1/exh-hall/e-sun-peng.htm 2001 Yokohama Triennale] *Further information from the [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/yu_yuan.htm Saatchi Gallery] *[https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/5/217 The Corpse and Humanist Discourse: Dead Bodies in Contemporary Chinese Art, Madeline Eschenburg]

Category:Animal cruelty incidents Category:Art duos