About the Artist
Tanya Miao Sun is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Working across painting, sculpture, sound, and dance, her experimental practice utilizes a diverse range of media including charcoal, ink, acrylic, oil, wood, fabric, leather, metal, and found objects. She prioritizes the physical materiality of these elements, seeking to preserve the original state of matter while mapping the intersection of tactile objects and the kinetic logic of the body.
Driven by a curiosity about how systems fail and reorganize, Sun’s work operates in the critical space between order and disorder, fueled by an appreciation for the origin of the materials she employs. Her practice is an exploration into the possibilities of combining disparate mediums, from heavy metals to fluid ink, to observe how they resist or accept human intervention. Rather than imposing a fixed resolution, she allows the work to emerge from the material’s own logic.
Selected Exhibitions:
2026
[ 熵 ] heat divided by temperature (Solo), V-Gallery, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA
A Place At The Table, Tag Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Free 4 All, Claremont Lewis Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
Breath of Freedom, Tag Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
DTLA ArtNight, Emerging Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Above and Beyond the Dirt Nap, V-Gallery, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA
2025
The Gifting Gallery, Art Share L.A., Los Angeles, CA
Free 4 All, Claremont Lewis Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
2024
Grant & Merit Scholarship Exhibition, The Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, New York, NY
2019
Annual Juried Exhibition, Boone Family Art Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Contemporary Painting Group Show, V-Gallery, Pasadena, CA
2018
Annual Scholarship Group Exhibition, Boone Family Art Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Advanced Painting Group Show, V-Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Selected Performances:
2026
Omgoddesses, Stomping Ground LA, Los Angeles, CA
Singin' in the Rain, Montalbán Theatre, Hollywood, CA
2025
Singin' in the Rain, Bonita Center for the Arts, San Dimas, CA
Dangerous, Bonita Center for the Arts, San Dimas, CA
Bite Me, Bonita Center for the Arts, San Dimas, CA
Awards & Scholarships:
2023 149th Merit Scholarship, Art Students League of New York, New York, NY
2018 Ruth Estes Bissiri Memorial Scholarship, Pasadena, CA
2018 PCC Jewelry Design Scholarship, Pasadena, CA
Education:
2022–2024 Concept Art & Art Critique, Art Students League of New York, NY
2021 Painting Studies Program, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD CE), Providence, RI
2014–2021 Studio Art, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA
2013 M.A. in International Trade and Economics (Luxury Brand Management), University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
2001 B.A. in English (Tourism), Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an, China