Born in Inner Mongolia in 1977, Song Kun grew up during the post-Cultural Revolution era. A founding member of the N12, a group of young graduates from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, she explores new visual modes to express the finer points of daily existence. Named one of the most promising young female artists during the 2005 Triennial of Chinese Art, Song currently lives and works in Beijing.
Educated in the post-Cultural Revolution era in a time of rapid economic and urban development, Song Kun shies away from the overtly political themes seen in the art of her predecessors. Before graduating from Beijing’s prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in Oil Painting in 2002, Song and eleven others founded the art group known as the N12. These twelve have been organizing their own annual exhibitions since 2003. Liu Xiaodong, a well known painter and professor at the Central Acadamy, greatly contributed to Song ‘s development as an artist – a debt she repaid by painting a canvas of him in 2005.
Song incorporates study of psychology into her drawings, and has said she draws inspiration from the works of Sigmund Freud. She explores the diversity of the human psyche, as well as her own emotions, translating them into her art.
1977 Born in Inner Mongolia， China
2002 BA, Graduated from Oil Painting Department, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
2006 MA, Graduated from Oil Painting Department, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Currently lives and works in Beijing, China
Solo Exhibitions
2012
Song Kun, A Thousand Kisses Deep, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 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
Group Exhibitions
2012
Stay Away, VA Gallery, Hong Kong
Narcissism, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
Faces, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
Lust and Love of The Young and Liberated, 798 Space, 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
2007
2nd Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts Forms of Concepts, Wuhan, China
2006
Body – Boundary, Chambers Fine Art, New York, U.S. Transgression, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China Chaos City, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, China N12 No. 4, C5 Gallery, 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
