XIN SONG

Personal Statement

My name is Xin Song I was born in the capital city of China, Beijing, and I have been living in the big city for my entire life.  Living there in comfort, I was not exposed to poor desolated part of rural China.  Before my excursion to this desolated countryside of China, I knew nothing of Folk Art, let alone possessed the ability to understand and appreciate it. My first encounter with Folk Art brought me into the authentic world of life, and showed me the beauty of this life.

My journey and exposure with Folk Art began from my research in the countryside in China.  I was amazed to see that immeasurable acres of impoverished land that could not grow crops but was able to produce numbers of talented folk artists who fulfilled their dreams by cutting, painting, and creating wonderful pictures and works of art.  This art from May not be as mature or as popular as the traditional main stream Art, but embodies the high-spirited customs and pure spiritualism of the people. Most importantly it expresses the belief, “Art is Life". Little by little, I fell in love with the Folk Art and embraced the artists who subsist within its environment.

            Many people argue that the traditional Folk Art is the simple and low-level works of the peasants, nine out of ten of whom are illiterate and lack of formal art education.  Contrary to this stereotype, I think that these peasant-artists are real artists in that they have inherited rich experience from the thousands of years of amazing traditions and customs.  Comparing to them, I seem to be so insignificant.  The simple traditional Folk Art fires my imagination and inspiration for art.  It has taught me many things that I could not learn from the art school.

Ever since I was little, I have dreamt a lot dreams every single day.  Dreams are the themes of my works in my art practice because they are the source of my creativity.  Sometimes, I find that my dreams are so true that the world in my dreams is even more visible and approachable than the reality.  Living in my dreams and my art practice, I find peace, love, joy; green mountains, running water, growing trees, blossoming flowers, singing birds, and many other things that I cannot find elsewhere, have life in my dreams and take shape in my work. I love to wander in my dreams and to build my world of art upon them.

Paintings are completely different from written words. Every single dot, line, and color on my works records my thoughts, ideas and dreams more fully and precisely than any conventional sentence. I hope that one day my art will resonate with my soul for all to see and experience.