 he incredible heat of the end of Beijing’s summer has been weakened after a rain. But it makes the dirt road before Song Yonghong’s studio in Changping flooded. He plans to repair the road together with the neighbor artists after a while when they are stable, then the life here will be more comfortable.
Since 2005 when he moved into this studio in the suburb of Beijing, Song Yonghong has become a true Changpingese. He lives in the studio while his wife and child live in the home in Wangjing and they will reunite in the studio at weekend. The environment here is pretty quiet. Due to the early and long-term lease, the rent here is also very cheap. His brother Song Yongping is living in the neighbor garden. A few artists have successively moved into the surrounding gardens. They don’t want this area to be a lively art district. Only the large sign of “ART” identifies this place to the passers.
A spacious house became his studio; a coffee table in the corner is filled with many books. Song Yonghong said he likes to paint here and read books at night. He said he re-read Hundred Years of Solitude published in 1984, because the fascination of magic realism still attracts him. However, he still likes figurative works rather than abstract art although he tried the latter before, because the substantial feeling  meets his psychological pulse. He likes to collect a variety of visual materials, constantly combine and collage them in his mind and ponder upon the details. After the trial of the forms like installation and conceptual art, he returns to the pure painting due to the mysterious and attractive unreadability of painting. He always believes that brush cannot directly reflect reality.
Everyday before he picks up the brush he has to “fight” with his works first, because it’s not a easy thing to make thinking clear and sit down to paint peacefully. He always “dawdles” for a while by various ways before starting to work and generally goes to work until the afternoon. If the work in the afternoon goes well, he will take a rest and read; if the work in the afternoon doesn’t go well, he has to continue to work after dinner until midnight. However, recently Song Yonghong doesn’t paint fast. He said he went through a confused period in 1995 and 1996 after his graduation. The year of 2000 is a transition period when “Comfort Bath” is produced. Today is a gestation period for him. He doesn’t want to participate in a variety of commercial exhibitions, because they are not for paintings but products. In this September, he will participate in a group-exhibition in Nanjing, in this November, he has a joint exhibition with his two teachers in Hangzhou, and in April of next year, he will join in a large-scale group exhibition which is curated by Lv Peng. Although there are not many plans, he can keep his mind on painting what he wants.
Song Yonghong feels that the financial crisis really braked the domestic modern and contemporary art. The ability of doing choice and judgment is very crucial when artists face such a circumstance.
He values the traditional Chinese painting and deems that its mood and aesthetics are further beyond those of the western painting. Through the acceptance of the great influence from the European and Western tradition and the combination of the Chinese tradition, he hopes he can create some more interesting works rather than the shoddy relying on the asymmetric information and the reselling of concepts between the west and the mainland.
Translator: Xue Lian
Shong Yonghong's Studio：
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