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The outstanding thing about Song Haizeng is his
ability to communicate happiness in a direct and
refreshing manner. In Song's art, there is no trace
of the 'trendy' cynicism that permeates much of
today's cultural products. In a way, this absence
of angst-ridden retro-self-analysis marks him exceptional
as a modern contemporary Chinese artist. It is Song's
positive personality that generates extraordinary
energy into his works - the generosity of true happiness
that the artist gladly shares with the viewer. Like
his self-portrayed counterparts on canvas, the real-life
Song is similarly larger-than-life. Full of energy,
affable and fun, he is a living embodiment of hope
that comes from a genuine state of happiness.
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From
a social and political standpoint, one could say that Song
uses his art as social commentary to speak about the vast
changes and upheavals in recent Chinese history since the
Cultural Revolution that restricted creativity and freedom
in many sectors of social and personal life. For example,
in a lot of contemporary art produced in China recently, artistic
methods of reduction and loss (i.e. depictions of solitary
figures engulfed in a background of flat but plasticized surfaces)
symbolizes the longing of the individual to rediscover and
relocate their identity in a turbulent and unknown world.
In this context Song's images are all the more potent for
their barest hint of the city skyline, betraying its location
and demonstrating the individual's place as "outsider"
to modernity.
Behind all the happiness and laughter, however, lies an underlying
presence of sadness to which we have been spared. Indeed Song's
personal history of family tragedies has had a deep and profound
effect on the direction of his work. With the premature death
of his younger brother at the age of 21, followed by the consecutive
loss of all four of his grandparents, Song was plunged into
a prolonged period of bereavement. "The City on the Edge"
series stems from the conclusion of this period where he finally
decided life is indeed too short to dwell on the negative.
His infectious positivity permeates the paintings with intimate
dimensions that enable the viewer to experience the work beyond
simple aesthetic appreciation. The repertoire can be regarded
as a celebration of his changing body, showing the processes
of age and maturity in an extraordinary manner, with the expanding
girth as a symbol of life's enjoyments.
By presenting himself as the quintessential embodiment of
the ordinary common man, Song's solitary figures as 'outsiders'
to modern life, attempts to stall the speed of technological
advancement by turning our attention back on the subtlest
of human emotions. Within the confines of the frame, a smile,
a laugh, a cheeky grimace and a hug becomes all important.
The ordinary man in this case is having the last laugh in
defiance of the facelessness of Modernity.
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