SONG HAIZENG solo exhibtion at Art Scene Beijing
5 -23 October, 2007

Song Haizeng’s extraordinary ability to communicate happiness in a direct and refreshing manner makes him one of the few truly groundbreaking artists working in China today. The generic cynicism that is becoming so commonplace in much of Chinese art is completely lacking in the artist’s work. Instead Song Haizeng’s paintings are full of positive energy, playfulness and laughter.
Song Haizeng’s larger-than-life self-portrayed counterparts, embody the artist’s own affable, energetic and fun-filled personality. They pose or pull faces in brilliant sunshine, set against brightly colored backgrounds. Life and energy radiate from the canvas. But behind all the laughter lies an underlying presence of sadness to which we have been spared. Indeed, Song’s personal tragedies had a deep and profound effect on his work. With the premature death of his brother at just 21, followed by the consecutive loss of all four grandparents, Song Haizeng was plunged into a prolonged period of bereavement. Song’s style stems from the conclusion of this period where the artist decided that life is too short to dwell on the negative. Song Haizeng is the living embodiment of hope that comes from a genuine state of happiness.
“I paint myself because I am an ordinary person,” says Song Haizeng. And indeed, he presents himself as the quintessential embodiment of the ordinary common man.  His canvases are devoid of extraneous information, referring only occasionally to a familiar location, such as a living room, a simplified cityscape, or a swimming pool and in this respect, the unspectacular environment of Song Haizeng’s extraordinary joy is emphasized. In an age driven by consumerism, Song Haizeng reminds us that there is nothing more valuable or desirable than life itself and there is nothing that can make more of a difference in today’s alienating and faceless cities than a smile, a laugh, a cheeky grimace and a hug. Song’s solitary ‘outsiders’ to modern life turn our attention back to the subtlest of human emotions: The ordinary man is in this case having the last laugh.