Upclose with Song Kexi
Renowned Chinese contemporary painter Song Kexi talks to Penny Zhou about his military background and the importance of painterly technique after his popular exhibition, “The Happy Pose.”
HK Magazine: Growing up in Northern China in the 1970s, how on earth did you develop an interest in oil painting?
Song Kexi: By the time I went to school, all college entrance exams had been canceled due to the Cultural Revolution, and students hardly studied at school. What was the point if you couldn’t go to college anyway? But my father was a teacher, and once he looked at my textbooks and sai,: “You are about to graduate high school, but what you have learned doesn’t even compare to what I learned in elementary school.” So he pushed me into learning something that I could make a living with. My neighbor was a painter, and he inspired me to begin a painting career.
HK: What’s the idea behind your “Happy Pose” series?
SK: I’ve been working on the cabbage doll paintings for almost a decade, and I’m still not done with them. For me, those little dolls symbolize nobodies—they exist, but are so often neglected. When I started, I wasn’t interested in making a social comment; I just thought they looked nice on canvas. Now, the series is all about the violation and manipulation of ordinary people, people having their space invaded by Big Brother. Other things I’ve painted, such as my funny dogs, are more for entertainment. And I like to put the Coca-Cola and McDonald’s logos together with the dogs to express my aversion to consumerism.
HK: People are curious about your days in the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Arts. Can you tell us something about your time there?
SK: Everything there was so strict, and looking back now I don’t think I ever fit in. We were trained to paint scenes in military history only—obviously I wasn’t allowed to do what I’m doing now! In the 90s, I went to China Central Academy of Fine Arts, and I started to learn about the outside world, and I also realized what I really wanted to do as a painter. That changed a lot of things.
HK: Who are your influences?
SK: When I started studying oil painting, I loved all those classic icons such as the Van Eyck brothers, Goya and Eugene Delacroix, and I even tried to imitate them. But then I realized there was no point in trying to be the next Van Eyck or Goya because nobody can recreate classics, and that what I really should be doing is painting the world I’m living in.
HK: What is the most important thing about being a painter?
SK: Not the technique. I mean, techniques are necessary, but they’re not crucial. There is a Spanish painter whose paintings look just like photographs and I remember being stunned by his astounding techniques. But I couldn’t see anything original or thought-provoking inside his works. And I don’t see the point of painting something just to fool the viewer’s eyes. The most important thing is what you are trying to articulate though your paintings, not how real they look.
To see Song Kexi’s works visit www.moongallery.org.