Process Preview
Messi
Princess
Goddess
Since 2007, Song Yulin has practiced a singular method: she completes a figurative painting, then covers it with tens of thousands of hand-drawn lines over months. Concealment and visibility coexist; erasure and reconstruction occur simultaneously. The original image never truly disappears — it is simply formatted.
Born in Sichuan, China. Based in Spain. Works held in the White Rabbit Collection (Australia), Baolong Art Museum (Shanghai), and other institutional collections.
In Space
Series
Selected Curriculum Vitae
Museum Collections
- 2019 Baolong Art Museum, Shanghai (Three works from Shape of Time series collected)
- 2019 Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art (Work: Sunroom Without Sunlight)
- 2009 White Rabbit Foundation, Australia (Work: Formatting—God of War)
Selected Awards
- 2019 Baolong Art Award for "Beautiful Homeland", Baolong Art Museum, Shanghai
- 2015 Bronze Award, Nanjing International Art Exhibition (Work: Eighteen Beats—Red Excavator)
- 2013 Gold Award, Independent Character 2013 Emerging Artist Nomination Exhibition (Work: Eighteen Beats—Memory of Midnight)
Selected Exhibitions
- 2019 Invisible World—Free Brushstrokes: Song Yulin Solo Exhibition, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
- 2018 PEACETIME, Demilitarized Zone, Daechungdo Island, South Korea
- 2016 Incessant Reevaluation(s)—Lacquer and Song Yulin Duo Exhibition, OZANEAUX Art Space, New York
- 2015 Cologne International Contemporary Art Fair, Cologne, Germany
- 2014 Paris Art Fair, Grand Palais, Paris
Selected Press
"Song Yulin's paintings convey a seemingly contradictory visual relationship: images are simultaneously covered and revealed, existing in mutual entanglement. Her works neither belong to abstract painting nor traditional representational painting—they resemble conceptual painting."
— He Guiyan, Director of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum
"As the artist states: 'In my Formatting, I try to wear down certain things; there is pleasure in the lines.' The process of destruction is, in fact, the process of affirming the self."
— Sheng Wei, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Fine Arts Magazine
"Among post-70s female painters, Song Yulin exhibits a profound rationalist sensibility. Her Formatting series employs an almost rigorous rational approach to deconstruct painting subjects into pure pictorial language—an allegory for her generation's existence."
— Hang Chunxiao, Researcher & Doctoral Supervisor, Chinese National Academy of Arts
"If the Formatting series represents a subtle exploration of inner pursuits, the Eighteen Beats series is a more direct expression of reality—what I term 'era imagery.' Dense layers of paint form an intricate web, eroding the pre-set underdrawing to give rise to a new subject."
— Qi Tingjie, Curator at Bailihu International Culture Investment Group
Contact
For inquiries about available works, exhibitions, or collaborations:
Based in Spain