GEE SONG ( Lives and works in Seoul)

Gee Song graduated with a BA in Painting and Print Making from Ewha Womans University in 2005 and completed a MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College in 2008. Song’s solo exhibitions include Beyond Landscape, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul (2010). Group shows include You were, you are, Gallery Chosun, Seoul (2012), Art Stage Singapore, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (2012), W-door, Salon de H, Seoul (2011),CAS, Osaka (2010), Frozen in Time, Space15th Gallery, Seoul, 2010; Ideal Worlds, Sesame Gallery, London, 2009; Borderland, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London, 2009; and Entry Forms, Korean Cultural Centre UK, London, 2008. Gee Song was selected from the 2010 Open Call for Young Artists by Alternative Space Loop and Open Call Artists by the Korean Cultural Centre, UK in 2008.

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GEE SONG

Lives and works in Seoul
 
Education
2008   Goldsmiths Collage, University of London, London, MFA in Fine Art
2005   Ewha Womans University, Seoul, BA, Painting and Print Making 

Solo Exhibition
2010   Beyond Landscape, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul

Selected Group Exhibitions
2012    You were, you are, Gallery Chosun, Seoul
2012    Art Stage Singapore, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
2011    Super Art, Gallery Luce, Seoul
2011    W-door, Salon de H, Seoul
2010    W-door, Contemporary Art and Spirits(CAS), Osaka 
2010    Frozen in Time, Space15th Gallery, Seoul
2009    Ideal Worlds, Sesame Gallery, London
2009    Borderland, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
2008    Entry Forms, Korean Cultural Centre UK, London
2008    4482, Bargehouse, London
2008    Goldsmiths Department of Art MFA Exhibition 2008, Ben Pimlott       
           Building, St James, London

Awards
2010        ‘2010 Open Call for Young Artists’, Alternative Space Loop
2008        ‘Open Call Artists’ 2008, Korean Cultural Centre UK 

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Artworks





BEYOND LANDSCAPE

What is an ideal place that people envision in their minds? Gee Song throws a question at the fantasy most people have about wandering off to some exotic place and immersing themselves in pristine natural beauty. The preconception for the artist’s quest for places of perfect well-being is that ‘nature’ - or the crystal of pure nature untainted by any artificiality – remains what is considered the closest to a utopia. 
The artist combines these images captured from an ideal natural environment in multiple layers to revive a series of landscapes. The landscapes are coated with sparkling, vivid colours, stirring up the aspiration to escape from everyday hassles into a utopia. However, each picturesque site, or each illusionary spot, stands for more than just a perfectly preserved paradise created upon ideal visions; it also sheds light on the mundaneness of day-to-day life of the locals and the impact of today’s tourism industry, adding a surreal, dystopian feel to the landscapes. The landscapes portrayed by the artist, in which ideals and realities, natural and artificial elements coexist, symbolise her question about the unidentifiable placeness, and that question is the product of an observation on the blurry border between a visible place and an artificial place projected beyond.
The artist recently has moved the setting of her exploration to more practical urban spaces. The colours and shapes of signals, found in familiar-looking yet alarming cityscapes composed of a myriad of man-made elements, are utilised to produce visual implications that transform scenes of day-to-day life into abstract landscapes. This represents the artist's search for traces of ideals within the boundary of a daily routine or search for utopian elements under dystopian circumstances. Though the object may have been changed, the narrative continues in a consistent manner.