Xue Song (1965)

Xue Song

Xue Song is a Chinese artist who works and lives in Anhui Province, China.

He graduated from the Shanghai Institute of Dramatic Art, Department of Stage Art, and is one of the leading artists of contemporary Chinese pop art. Song is recognized as the first artist in China to bring Western collage to the Chinese contemporary art scene.

Xue Song is known for his innovative combination of modern and traditional elements, where calligraphy, folk art and ink painting meet modern techniques. Soot and ash are the most important elements of his art, and the outlines of many of the figures in his depictions look as if they were on fire. For Xue, ashes and fire are a reminder of destiny and a symbol of rebirth. Over and over again, the artist recalls the fire that burned down his studio in the early 1990s, destroying all of his work, mostly oil paintings and calligraphy. The charred remnants of paintings, rescued from the ashes, are used as fragments in new works, as a kind of remembrance of past events.