Song Kun, born in Inner Mongolia in 1977, graduated with MFA in oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing in 2006.If one is to speak of the ways in which Song Kun differs from other artists her age, then the first difference is that she is the carrier of two very disparate oil painting traditions. For various reasons, during the complex period of her studies at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, she first began studying painting at Studio One, which teaches classical realist oil painting, before moving to Studio Three, which teaches expressionist painting, where she remained for the next seven years. Looking back over her college days, Song Kun has said that in terms of the qualities of various techniques, she prefers the tranquil, balanced atmosphere of classical painting, but she cannot accept the pretentious partition that exists between classical techniques and real life. In this regard, she feels that the attitude of concern for real life fostered at Studio Three better fits her method of connecting with the outside world. This little anecdote helps us to understand her artworks, particularly the fact that their charm rests in the subtle discrepancies between language and content. Song Kun is attempting to use something very special to bring together the profuse clutter of this era and to bestow it with a unique aura. This integration is not beautification in the classical sense but a hard-to-describe fusion between wishes and reality. Even when only counting from graduation, Song Kun has been working in the art field for a decade, and it is this hard-to-describe wish that has permeated all of her creations, bestowing her works with a precious quality.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2017
ASURA SUKHAVATI, Kiyoshi Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
2015
ASURA SUKHAVATI, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2013
Visual Stream of Consciousness: Forward!—a contemporary Chinese Art and Contemporary City I, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
2012
A Thousand Kisses Deep, UCCA, Beijing, China
2009
Seeking the Recluse but not Meeting, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2008
Xi Jia – River Lethe, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, China
2007
Song Kun, Solo Project, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
2006
It's My Life, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017
Kunst gemeinsam gestalten, Goethe-Institut, Beijing, China
Magic Sampling, Fruity Space, Beijing, China
Art Basel, Hongkong
2016
She,Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Unrealities in the Reality, Shenzhen, China
Exotic Stranger,Paris, France
Return, PIFO Galllery,Beijing,China
2015
Up, Beijing Time Art Museum, China
China8, NRW-Forum,Düsseldorf, Germany
The Temperature of History--Contemporary concerns, China Art Museum,Shanghai, China
Film, Art Basel, Hongkong
2014
The World III in the Third World, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Island, Modernsky Lab, Beijing, China
Friends, Pool and Waves],Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, China
Hazing Kyoto], Star Gallery, Beijing
Uneasy Trip in Asia IV,Star Gallery, Beijing, China
N12-No.6, Lin&Lin Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
My Generation: Young Chinese Artists, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, USA
N12-No.5, Beijing Commune, Beijing, China
2013
Criss-Cross, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Being Entangled with Paper, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
Atypical, Gallery Beijing Space, Beijing, China
Uneasy Trip in Asia IV, Poly Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China
Being Is Not Being, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Frieze New York, New York, USA
Uneasy Trip in Asia, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
Art13 London, London,UK
The Food in the World, Linda Art Center, Beijing, China
2012
Narcissism, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
Stranger! ,DuDu Salon, Berlin, Germany
Song Kun & Jin Nv, S.E Gallery, Bergen, Norway
Paradise in the east, C5 Art Center, Beijing, China
Face, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
Lust and Love of the Young and Liberated, 798 space ,Beijing
Sleep In Spring, C5 Art,Beijing, China
2011
DAYBREAK, Arario Gallery, Beijing Space
HALF THE SKY-Women in the New Art of China, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Philadelphia, U.S
In A Perfect World... , Meulensteen Gallery, New York, USA
2010
Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Minsheng Art Museum Beijing, China
Do You See What I Mean, Fabien Fryns Fine Art, Los Angeles, U.S
The Armory Show, New York
The Mirror of This Time, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2009
Touch, A4 Gallery, Chengdu, China
Pick Up All the Winter Branches, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
NOTCH09 Art Festival, The VILLAGE ,Beijing
Kyoka Suigetsu--Female Contemporary Art,Power Center Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Hello,Sadness,Tang Contemporary Art,Bangkok ,Thailand
2008
Looking for Me, Minsheng Contemporary Arts Center, Shanghai, China
Art39Basel--Art Premiere section, Basel, Switzerland
2007
2nd Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts Forms of Concepts, Wuhan, China
2006
Body - Boundary, Chambers Fine Art, New York, U.S.
Transgression, PIFO New Art Studio, Beijing, China
Chaos City, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, China
N12 No. 4, C5 Art Center, Beijing, China
2005
Naughty Kids, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
N12 No. 3, CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
The Second Chinese Art Triennial, Nanjing Art Museum, Nanjing, China
2004
New Wave, Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing, Singapore
N12 No. 2, CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
Mode of Sensibility, Art Seasons Gallery, Singapore
Made in China, Design in France, Paul Ricard Gallery, Paris, France
Beijing-Dezoned-Paris, Le Cube, Issy les Moulineaux, France
2003
She, Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing, China
N12 No. 1, CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
Beyond the Face and Surface, Art Seasons Gallery, Singapore
2000
Water-- First Show of Exo-Site Art Program, Huanyi Warehouse, Beijing, China
1999
The Second Factory Time, Yunfeng Gallery, Beijing, China
Live
2017.05 [Magic Sampling] , fRUITYSPACE,Beijing,China
2017.05 [Spook in Hot pot], Star Gallery,Beijing,China
2016.01 [Sound of Silence], CHINA FILM ARCHIVE,Beijing, China
2016.01 [Sound of Silence], KINO KROKODI,Berlin ,Germany
2015.09 [Sound of Silence],THEATER SAMSA,Tokyo,Japan
2014.11 [Cosmos], M21 Museum, Shanghai, China
2014.09 [Don’t Worry Garden], Houyuan, Beijing, China
2014.09 [Island No.1], Modernsky Lab, Beijing, China
2013.08 [Being Is Not Being], UCCA ,Beijing,China
2012.03 [Lull&Noise in Dog Night No.1], Temple Bar, Beijing,China
2012.03 [This Is Not A Fashion Party], 798 AKRYL space, Beijing,China
2012.04 [qīng míng.Sleep in Spring], C5 Art Center, Beijing,China
2012.06 [Lull & Noise in Dog Night No.2], School Club, Beijing,China
2012.07 [Paradise in The East], C5Art Center,Beijing,China
2012.09 [Stranger],HDA Kunstsalon, Berlin, Germany
Artist-in-Residence
2008 [LIA Leipizig International Art Program], Leipizig, Germany
2014 [Island,Modernsky Lad Art Program], Phuket, Thailand
2016 [Big Whale], Berlin, Germany
Collection
M+ Museum , Hongkong
Giraud Pissarro Segalot, New York , USA
Francois Pinault Collection, Paris, France
Sigg Collection, Switzerland
Long Museum,China
New Century Art Foundation (NCAF) , China
CAFA Museum, Beijng , China
New Century Art Foundation (NCAF) ,China