Song Ling was born in Hangzhou in 1961. He graduated in 1984 from the Department of Chinese Painting at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art), after which he joined the Zhejiang Painting Academy as a professional painter. In 1985, he organized and participated in the ’85 New Space exhibition, and the following year became involved in the artist collective Pond Society (Chi She). In 1988, Song Ling relocated to Melbourne, Australia, where he presented seventeen solo exhibitions over the course of his career. Since returning to China in 2014, the artist has held retrospective exhibitions at Today Art Museum, Zhejiang Art Museum, and HOW Art Museum. He currently lives and works between Hangzhou and Melbourne.
Song Ling’s major bodies of work include the People·Pipeline and Meaningless Choice series. In recent years, his practice has approached classical Chinese painting through an almost subtractive methodology: gradually stripping away the lyricism, expressive vitality, and spiritual resonance embedded within the original works, and transforming them into restrained, simplified planes and structures. Through this process, the artist generates estranged images marked by a sense of de-emotionalization and the erasure of traces of life.
His works have been collected by numerous public institutions and museums, including thePacific Asia Museum in the United States, National Gallery Singapore, White Rabbit Gallery, Yuz Foundation, Long Museum, TANK Shanghai, HOW Art Museum, START Museum, the Artbank Sydney collection in Australia, ANZ Bank Australia, Deakin University, and the Hawkesbury Regional Art Collection in Australia.
Solo Exhibitions
2024.“Borrowed Scenery”, Ginkgo Space, Shanghai, China
2023.“I’m also starting to have desires.”, HAO Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2020.“Model House”, Riverside, Hangzhou, China
2019.“Catch the Muddle”, New Century Art Foundation “Pond Society”, Shanghai, China
2018.“Magritte’s Room”, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, China
2016.“Wildlife” , Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2015.“Face”, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2015.“Ghosts in the Mirror – Song Ling 1985-2015”, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2014.“Ghosts in the Mirror – Song Ling 1985-2013”, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2013.“The Face”, Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney, Australia
2012.“Beatty and the Beast”, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2011.“A Day in the Life”, Michael Reid, Sydney, Australia
2010.“Kaleidoscope”, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2009. Paintings by Song Ling, Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney, Australia
2008.“When We Were Young”, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2007. Song Ling, Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney, Australia
2006. Song Ling, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
1997. Song Ling, Caulfield Arts Complex, Melbourne, Australia
1996. Paintings by Song Ling, Pinacotheca, Melbourne, Australia
1994. Paintings by Song Ling, Pinacotheca, Melbourne, Australia
1992. Paintings by Song Ling, Pinacotheca, Melbourne, Australia
1991. “Mystical East”, Chinese Museum, Melbourne, Australia
1989. “Impounded Visions”, Frank Hardy Fine Art, Brisbane, Australia
Group Exhibitions
2023.“Start”, Start Museum, Shanghai
2022.“Citing Geng as the reason”, Ooeli, Hangzhou
2021.“Futurism of the Past - Contemplating the Past and Future in Chinese Contemporary Art”, Beijing Exhibition Center, Beijing
2020.“Waves and Echoes - A Process of Re-contemporarization in Chinese Art Circa 1987 Revisited”, Beijing Inside - Out Art Museum, Beijing, China
2020.“Duration – Chinese Art In Transfor Mation”, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
2020.“Being of Evils”, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2018.“HERE/ELSEWHERE - The Sample of Overseas Chinese Art”, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
2018.“Animamix Biennale - Ballade”, MOCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2017.“Crisscrossing East and West”, MOCA Yinchuan, Yinchuan, China
2016.“The 9th International Ink Art Biennale of Shenzhen”, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen
2016.“scene”, Mid-Levels Buildings, Wenzhou
2016.“Unrealities In The Reality”, Boxes Art Space, Shenzhen
2014.“VARIATION-Contemporary Chinese Ink Art Series Il”, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
2014.“Crossing Boundaries”, Contemporary Asian Australian Artists, Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, Australia
2013. “Arts Can Do”, Australia China Art Foundation, Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong
2013. The Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2012.“Art Event”, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2012.“Chinese Australia”, Ausin Tung Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2009.“Art for Science”, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2009.“Now2.0“, ACGA Gallery, Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia
2009. “Salon des Refuses Exhibition”, The National Trust S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2009. Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2008. Australian Contemporary Art, the Rotunda Exchange Square Central, Hong Kong
2007. ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia
2007. The City of Darebin and La Trobe University Art Prize, Bundoora Homestead Art Center, Melbourne, Australia
2007.“Art for Science”, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2007.“Crossroads”, Toyota Community Spirit Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2006. Melbourne Art Fair, Niagara Galleries, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia
1997. Chinese Painting, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
1994.“A Place of Refuge”, Ballarat Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
1992.“Transitional Chinese Art in Australia”, East and West Art, Melbourne, Australia
1989.“The Light of Asia”, The Arts Center Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
1988.“Australia in the Mirror of the East”, Galleria Di Tonetto E Salla, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
1988. Mayoon Fine Asian Art, Los Angeles, USA
1986.“Chishe”, a series of art events, happenings and environmental installations, Hangzhou, China
1986.“Beyond the Open Door”, Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, USA
1985.“85 New Space”, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China
1985. Sport in Chinese Art, China Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1985. Exhibition of Youth Art in a Progressing China, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Collections
White Rabbit Gallery，Australia
Yuz Foundation, Djakarta, Indonesia, Shanghai, China
Long Museum, Shanghai, China
ANZ Bank, Melbourne, Australia
Sydney Art Bank, Sydney, Australia
Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
Hawkesbury Art Collection, Australia
Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, USA
