Perface
Song Dong lives in constant exploration of the relation between art and everyday life. Not only a question of form, this relation is also about the fulfillment of action. The artist has even gone so far as to summon his own family members – including his parents, wife and daughter – to participate in these actions. With the current evolution of a quickly changing contemporary art from a kind of form to a way of life, and with the influx of popular culture, people are beginning to reconsider how art had previously been in a “lofty” position removed from everyday life. From Beuys’ “social sculpture” and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s relational aesthetics to Andy Warhol’s “Ads” and Takashi Murakami’s “Superflat” concept, artists have made every sort of strenuous effort to formalize everyday life. From another perspective, they have also become the guardians of artistic purity against trivial everyday life. Among these guardians is Song Dong, whose fulfillment of action is interesting. His formalization of everyday life is never one hundred percent; in the process, he always creates a “goof” (a mistake), and likewise leaves room for everyday life. This “accommodation” is his attempt at opening up an actual space for the non-ideational concept that “art is life, life is art.” ”A Blot on the Landscape” is precisely this sort of fulfillment, except that here, the “goof” has been placed within the form of traditional culture.
Press Release
Pace Beijing is pleased to present an exhibition of Song Dong's recent works on October 30th. The solo exhibition, which will last until December18th 2010, is the latest exhibition of Song Dong after his successful solo show Waste Not at the Museum of Modern Art in New York last year.
As one of the most important conceptual artists in Chinese contemporary art fields. Song Dong's works combine a wide array of forms including performance, video, sculpture, and among others. Often drawn from everyday life, his works express his thinking on philosophical issues in a plain form that ordinary people can easily access. The new series on view, A blot on the landscape – Cut Stroke (Jian dao cun) , A blot on the landscape – Chop Stroke (Fu pi cun), A blot on the landscape – Wind and Water Stroke (Shui feng cun) and A blot on the landscape – Rain and Rice Stroke (Yu mi cun) are his latest video works. The "Eating Landscape" series constructed with food reflect his intervention and satire of traditional art. Song Dong's artworks always respond to secular culture, which evolves into an art form through the artist's performance. Works on the exhibition integrate the vulgarity of food with the elegance of landscape of Chinese literati tradition. In this way, material life is combined with spiritual pursuit in a sardonic manner, while the process reveals a kind of implicit and indescribable philosophy.
Song Dong was born in 1966 in Beijing and graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Capital Normal University in 1989. He currently lives and works in Beijing. Recently, Song Dong was included in the following exhibitions: China in Four Seasons: Song Dong + Yin Xiuzhen (2010) at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand; The 6th Liverpool Biennial (2010), Liverpool, England. Recently, his solo exhibition Waste Not travels to Vancouver and is currently on show in Vancouver Art Gallery.