Xue Song

Born in Anhui, China in 1965, Xue Song is one of the leading representatives of contemporary Pop Art in China.

When the modern art movement in China was flou

rishing in 1980s, Xue Song began his initial experiments with collage after being inspired by an encounter with Western ideas, especially Pop Art and the works by Robert Rauschenberg. Still, he struggled to find his artistic voice, explaining, "I wanted to break Chinese tradition and surpass western modernism. It is easy to say, but very difficult to realize.

In a twist of fate, his Pop art-meets-classical style began to crystallize after a fire burned down his studio in 1990, leading Xue Song to incorporate charred remnants of past work, books, and other belongings. The charred leftovers of pictures rescued from the ashes are used as fragments in the new works as a kind of memorabilia of past events. The collages become a tactile site of remembrance and reflection with traces of the fire unavoidably present. Since then, “burning” and “collaging” become the distinctive artistic language of Xue Song, and he started to create works on society, politics, tradition, culture, fashion, aesthetics and other different topics.

Xue Song had solo exhibition in Shanghai Art Museum, Xi'an Art Museum, MoCA in Singapore, The Ueno Royal Museum in Japan, etc. His works are collected by important museums and organization, including National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, Museum of Modern Art in Bonn, the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation, Uli Sigg Collection, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in France, Coca-Cola's Asia Pacific headquarters, JP Morgan Chase Bank Asia Pacific headquarters, Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) and other important international collectors.