Song Lee (b.1997)
lives and works in London • or nowhere
lives and works in London • or nowhere
exposure
express impress press
force resilience
vessel cell fluid
contact touch
unspoken unheard
secrets misunderstood
meanings words
mind eye seeing believing
moving leaving losing
trace passage passing
interval distant flight
discord accord
appearing disappearing
Some things speak to me and I try not to miss.
express impress press
force resilience
vessel cell fluid
contact touch
unspoken unheard
secrets misunderstood
meanings words
mind eye seeing believing
moving leaving losing
trace passage passing
interval distant flight
discord accord
appearing disappearing
Some things speak to me and I try not to miss.
• With a background in printmaking and photography, currently using painting as the medium, I construct illusory spaces on the flat surface. My inspiration comes from the observations in everyday life and the phenomena that lead my mind to elsewhere.
I am interested in the duality of the painting as a physical object and as a visual language. I focus on the insecure linkage between the painted image and the underlying meanings it may hold or lose.
In terms of speed, there is an unresolved gap between seeing and painting. Moments come into mind in a second, while making a painting of it requires much longer time. In this regard, painting for me is a way of re-viewing something at a slower pace. Whether I paint by memory or by a photographic record of a moment, what I try to paint is never present in any case. This means, there is no concrete goal or the destination for the painting to follow. Rather embracing this incompleteness, I enjoy following the track of the flow the painting goes through.
In the process of the painting-making, the state of the image constantly shifts until it reaches its end - the death. I repeatedly make a response to the last action I did on the canvas. As it leads to another state, I become conscious of each response I make. Not knowing if the painting is going forward or backward, I make decisions nonetheless.
This self-dialogue as well happens when I write; I become the first reader of the sentence written by myself. I regard painting as another form of writing in this sense. The difference is that painting has its own language and is a non-linear way of writing. When I write my last sentence, by then, I see where I have arrived. Likewise, I realise what the painting is about after making the last movement, and that is when I become the first viewer of the piece. I gladly take the honour of giving a title to my own work, as if it is someone else’s. •
I am interested in the duality of the painting as a physical object and as a visual language. I focus on the insecure linkage between the painted image and the underlying meanings it may hold or lose.
In terms of speed, there is an unresolved gap between seeing and painting. Moments come into mind in a second, while making a painting of it requires much longer time. In this regard, painting for me is a way of re-viewing something at a slower pace. Whether I paint by memory or by a photographic record of a moment, what I try to paint is never present in any case. This means, there is no concrete goal or the destination for the painting to follow. Rather embracing this incompleteness, I enjoy following the track of the flow the painting goes through.
In the process of the painting-making, the state of the image constantly shifts until it reaches its end - the death. I repeatedly make a response to the last action I did on the canvas. As it leads to another state, I become conscious of each response I make. Not knowing if the painting is going forward or backward, I make decisions nonetheless.
This self-dialogue as well happens when I write; I become the first reader of the sentence written by myself. I regard painting as another form of writing in this sense. The difference is that painting has its own language and is a non-linear way of writing. When I write my last sentence, by then, I see where I have arrived. Likewise, I realise what the painting is about after making the last movement, and that is when I become the first viewer of the piece. I gladly take the honour of giving a title to my own work, as if it is someone else’s. •
/Autumn 2024
exhibitions
23
Group Exhibition The Hoarders, The Shophouse, HK
Group Exhibition Night Boat, Fitzrovia Gallery, London
MA Degree Show - Royal College of Art
Group Exhibition Night Boat, Fitzrovia Gallery, London
MA Degree Show - Royal College of Art
21
Solo Exhibition TESTAMENT, 100-0 Gallery, Seoul
19
BA Degree Show Mille-Feuille - Hongik University
education
2022 - 2023
2015 - 2019
2015 - 2019
MA Painting, Royal College of Art, UK
BA Printmaking, Hongik University, KR
BA Printmaking, Hongik University, KR