Yuan Song: Dazzling Confusion, Haloed Shanghai

We are honored to announce that Yuan Song’s first solo exhibition at Ginkgo Space — “Dazzling Confusion, Haloed Shanghai”, will open on February 22 at Shanghai venue. The exhibition will showcase the artist’s recent explorations in his “View” and “High Light” series.

The character “罔” in the exhibition title conveys meanings of deception, illusion, and confusion, resonating with the thinking behind Yuan Song’s visually striking and structurally intricate works. The query of the true nature of daily objects is the center clue of  Yuan Song’s artistic creation. In series “View” artist assembled installations from dazzling yet cheap and hollow materials such as reflective glass, plastic wastes, and LED lights, constructing new visual scene imbued with contradictions and absurdity. 

Yuan Song's paintings, which create an illusion of depth, serve as a critique of consumerism—presenting highlight details also incorporating meticulously with mirror, ceramic, and other inlaid materials to heighten the sense of opulence and abundance of the painting. In the “High light” series, the relationship between painting and inlaided mirrors is similar to the interplay between illusion and scene. While the paintings generate a sense of dislocated spatial perception,the embedded materials further emphasize this dislocation, making it even harder to discern what is real. These dynamic parallels with contemporary consumer culture, where choices appear voluntary but are, in fact, dictated by external influences—blurring the line between authenticity and illusion. Yuan Song sees these dazzling materials not inherently deceptive but believes that the social meanings projected onto them warrant deeper reflection and inquiry.

Yuan Song, born in Tianjin in 1992. He received his undergraduate degree from the School of Experimental Art of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and his master's degree from the School of Experimental Art of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He now works at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. He lives and works in Beijing and Tianjin.