Sun Yu-li was born in in 1948 in Nanjing, China, and later migrated to Taiwan and the United States to study architecture. Since moving to Singapore in 1981, he has been pursuing a second successful career in visual arts, most notably in sculpture. Sun’s works, which can be found throughout major public venues in Singapore, are underpinned by architectural logic and conscious interactions with the immediate environment. Sun founded Sculpture Square and was a founding member of Emily Hill.

As a child, Sun spent happy weekends exploring the mountains and seas of the countryside and got his first taste of art from his mother who was a painter. Growing up curious about nature and the laws of space, Sun has since telescoped his questions and thoughts about life into large-scale outdoor sculptures in different media, ranging from bronze to cardboard.

Sun Yu-li integrates the interdisciplinary into his art, having been a keen student and researcher of metaphysics, linguistics, topology, geometry, archaeology and philosophy over the past 30 years. A creative thinker first and sculptor second, he counts his father as providing his first artistic and intellectual inspirations, teaching him the ways of ancient man, archaeology and the I Ching.

Sun is known for his concept of the Universal Language of the Metaphysical, which is a major recurring theme found throughout his artistic career. This was inspired through his wide readings in architecture and linguistics, which included The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch. Through making sense of a city and discovering the fundamentals of a language, Sun discovered a logic that compelled him to develop his Universal Language, and this would inform his endeavours for the rest of his artistic career. Wanting to expound on his concept, Sun left architecture in 1989 to become a full-time artist.

As he practised art in Singapore, Sun became concerned about the lack of display space for three-dimensional work in Singapore. So in 1995, Sun set about to create a space to exhibit three-dimensional work and installations in the area where the Middle Road Church was situated. Seed funding was raised with the help of his friend, Edmund Cheng, the then Deputy Chairman of Wing Tai Holdings Limited, and in May 1999, Sculpture Square was officially opened.

In the same spirit, Sun, together with a group of multi-disciplinary arts practitioners, founded Emily Hill in 2007. Situated at Upper Wilkie Road, Emily Hill is a creative cooperative that is dedicated to developing the artistic and commercial potential of Singapore arts. Sun currently practises his art in his studio and gallery at Emily Hill.

Sun’s important pieces can be found in well-known public squares in Singapore, including Suntec City and Dhoby Ghaut, as well as in the outdoor spaces of major institutions in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition, he is also widely collected in corporate and private galleries.