Li Songsong, a young artist in the 70s, has been in recent years investigating the relation between public images and their transposition onto canvas. In the shift to painting these pictures, which are mainly old photos related to historical characters and facts, he hasn't protracted the cognitive style as for some previous artists? practice of criticizing, exposing, questioning, or satirizing and propagandizing about a certain historical period, but has used a kind of imagery enacting an objective approach. In other words, in the use of the historical image-material that interested him, Li Songsong hasn't made any seemingly solved judgment of the historical value, on the contrary it is just from a visual point of view that has to be sensed the objective, simple and direct power of history as shifted or transplanted onto canvas.

This transposition is not only providing us a renewed point of view in pondering historical memories, but also one of memories identification within an historical language context. Here emerge the artist of a young generation approaching the collective and personal memory of history, and together with it the discrepancy of an artist of a previous generation with a different behavior and standpoint. This position at least to a greater extent decided to self-recount its actual state and depth, so for the observer to grasp a better understanding of the boundary relation between a public non-specific and actual historical image.

Li Songsong paints large format paintings in oils, and his paintings are based on the photographs of political incidents in Chinese history. There lie personal intents rather than political messages, even to search and confirm his origin through his own eyes.

PROFILE

1968

?Born in Beijing, China

EDUCATION

1996

?Graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Oil Painting, Lives and works in Beijing

His Selected Exhibitions

1.Public Action Work "Horse" Qinghua University Insitute of Fine Arts, Beijing

2.99 Gallery, Aschaffenburg, Germany

3."Li Songsong Works 2001-2004" CAAW, Beijing

4."The 3rd National Exhibition of Oil Painting" China National Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing

5."Left Hand, Right Hand: China-German Exhibition of Contemporary Art" 798 Space Art & Culture, Beijing

6."China's Photographic Painting" China Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing

7."Summer Show 2004" Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

8."Multiple Definitions -Imaginary Community" Tianjin Crystal City, Tianjin

9."Democracy Forever" Plumblossums Gallery, New York

10."Welcome, Welcome: Art-Beijing-Contemporary" Base Gallery, Tokyo