SONG MyungJin

When I first learned to add shadows to flat lines to bring the object to life, I realize that I had as much doubt and skepticism about the two-dimensional picture plane as I had a near religious faith in the chiaroscuro, for it made me the almighty creator even if my cosmos was limited to the canvas. Perhaps this is why I always felt painting was an inadequate and self-contradictory genre incapable of capturing major discourses and deep philosophical thinking. Rather than focusing on depicting a concept or meaning on canvas, I concentrated on questioning and doubting the canvas itself. In the past, for example, I sought to highlight the fact that painted images are merely illusions on two-dimensional space by giving viewers glimpses of the white and flat canvas between the objects. The latest works take on a different approach. In one moment, the object is crafted with care and then annihilated the next. Everything seems to flow smoothly on for awhile and then without notice peace is ruined by an act of whim. Even the creator herself is nervous and surprised by such dramatic decline of her objects. But if you think about it, the canvas is no more nor less than a kid’s playground of images. In fact, painting itself is in many ways similar to children playing. Just as kids throw the toys they tire of into the toy box and end their play, I am returning the images I’ve captured on canvas to where they had come from. I may have to hide them in the hole I’m standing on, cover them up with graffiti, or push them aside and out of easy view. This is ultimately an act of emptying the canvas and returning everything to the flat ground on which other images can play.

SONG MyungJin
Born in    1973, Busan, Korea

EDUCATION
2000    M.F.A, Painting, Hongik University ,Seoul, Korea
1996    B.F.A, Painting, Hongik University ,Seoul, Korea
    
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION
2012    Undone, Gallery Ihn, Seoul, Korea
2010    Being in Folding, Ctrl Gallery, Houston, USA
2009    Fishing on the Flat, Gallery Artside, Beijing, China
              Fishing on the Flat, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2007    Green Home, Gallery Rho, Seoul, Korea
              Green Home, The National Art Studio, Goyang, Korea
2006    Gardening, Window Gallery – Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
              Exaggerative Sign, Gail Art Museum, Gyeonggi, Korea
2005    Surface of Landscape, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2001    PAUSE-Image Capture, Boda Gallery, Seoul, Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2014    Wandering Vision, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
2013    Landscape Perceived, Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2012    Sporadic Positioning, Arario Gallery, Cheonan, Korea
2011    Dual Images, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, Pohang, Korea
2010    Up and Comers, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
2009    Variety, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwacheon, Korea
              Dissonant Visions, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2007    Imagery Play, PKM Gallery, Beijing, China
              How to Look at the Picture, Savina Museum, Seoul, Korea
              Propose 7, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea