Song Kun

executed in 2005

China, Beijing, Universal Studios-Beijing, Song Kun: It's My Life, 21 October - 19 November, 2006, unpaginated
USA, Los Angeles, Hammer Museum, Hammer Projects: Song Kun, 6 June - 16 October, 2007

China Art Book, Germany, Cologne, DuMont Buchverlag, 2007, p. 372

These works are generally in good condition. Some works exhibit some minor signs of wear and handling. Please note these were not examined under ultraviolet light.
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Song Kun was born in Baotou of Inner Mongolia in 1977 and graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2006, and has been rapidly singled out as one of the most remarkable young artists to watch. Along with fellow graduates from the Academy, was also responsible for establishing the art group N12, which included other notable icons of the contemporary art scene, including Qiu Xiaofei and Wang Guangle. The present lot, It 's My Life began in the summer of when Song was 28, and was a diary of sorts; daily paintings that the artist kept over the course of a year. It's My Life was the artist's Master's Graduation piece, and is a masterpiece from her early career to have undoubtedly secured her reputation and status ever since.

It's My Life is based around Lomography's philosophy, one which champions the youthful privileges of having a camera ready to hand, meticulously recording day and night without much thought. Lomography's philosophy is one that underscores the spontaneous freedom to instinctively take photos without thinking twice. Branching out from this philosophy, from June to the year after, except for a few days in between, Song recounted in this series her daily stories and feelings towards identities, objects, friends and landscapes on each mini canvas.

She wrote in her Master's thesis, 'This "diary" is open for others and I myself alike, which only adopts the corresponding format with date and time, and is therefore different from other diaries in the traditional sense. It is not about the realistic details to reflect a day-to-day progress, but those fragmented daily perceptions sampled once again from my own psychological time.'

As with many other artists of her generation, art imitates life for Song  her personal life takes the centre stage all through her repertoire. In this age when people grow further apart as technology advances, her cool-headed approach—a coldness which arrives even to the point that it enshrouds her works—embodies the sentiments of contemporary lives in a tradition comparable to her favourite artist Philip Pearlstein, whose name is synonymous with American realism. Her dispassionate, flimsy brushstrokes may also appear radically different from those thick and heavy ones by Qiu Xiaofei, whom she shared the Third Studio of the Academy with, yet Song's early training with their professor Xie Dongming has certainly imbued her with an acute sensitivity like no other.

Over the year working on It's My life, Song captured all sorts of thoughts and moods day after day. On completion, she received an invitation from the founder of Universal Studios-Beijing, Dr Pi Li (now Senior Curator for M+), to exhibit all her 365 miniature paintings curated under the four seasons of the year. As Song described the piece herself, we get to understand how the artist grapples with those fundamental issues regarding time, lives and existence. It is thus a truly rare occasion to present this work, in its first season, for auction.