Rao Songqing
Born in the Chinese province of Hubei in 1970, Rao Songqing graduated in 1991 from the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Arts in Beijing. His work is regularly exhibited in many cultural centers, museums and galleries in China. He lives and works in Beijing. Rao’s work is eminently contemplative and wandering, aspects that are reflected in the very title of his paintings. The artist is particularly inspired by the forest landscapes around Beijing in winter. It uses many layers and shades of gray and white, punctuated with rare colors. At first glance, his work with its poetic and hushed atmosphere echoes, both visually and in its themes, traditional Chinese painting. Rao thus gives us to see scenes of vast natural landscapes, where solitary travelers evolve, classic metaphors of the human condition. The author also seems to be inspired by ancient Chinese philosophical notions, such as Taoist emptiness (Wu 無), Confucian humanism or Buddhist interdependence. His inspired, energetic and precise brushstrokes evoke the spirit of Chinese calligraphy. Nevertheless, the artist uses clearly Western pictorial techniques. Moreover, certain recurring motifs denote a very contemporary reflection on the world. The rectilinear forest edges, in the background of a cleared or even devastated landscape, the red patterns contrasting discreetly with the overall pallor of the pictorial space that they dot here and there, testify to a concern, a feeling of bursting of landmarks, of a general loss of meaning. The solitary character, intimately connected or even mingled with the landscape which surrounds him and in which he seems to be groping his way, could well translate the quest of the artist and of the man, in search of a lost memory, of links to the world of its own and who knows, new avenues to explore. REMARK “It is often useless to speak in front of a work that upsets us. Throughout the thirteen years I’ve known Rao, I’ve gotten to know him better and better, but commentary has always been rare when I’m faced with his works.” Zhong, poet “Misty Landscapes, a film I once saw, alludes to the hypothetical existence of an ‘essence’ of human beings through the image of a tree that keeps disappearing and reappearing in fog. The landscape that I represent to myself reveals an order hidden under a chaotic appearance. The journey that will last our lifetime does not follow a predefined route, and its direction is barely discernible on the horizon. I won’t tell you about the result, the only thing I can tell you is that I’m still on the road. » RAO Songqing
Works
LANDSCAPE NO.6
Living portrait
Living portrait
Living
Lost Landscape 1
Biography
Born in the Chinese province of Hubei in 1970, Rao Songqing graduated in 1991 from the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Arts in Beijing. His work is regularly exhibited in many cultural centers, museums and galleries in China. He lives and works in Beijing.
Born in the Chinese province of Hubei in 1970, Rao Songqing graduated in 1991 from the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Arts in Beijing. His work is regularly exhibited in many cultural centers, museums and galleries in China. He lives and works in Beijing.
Rao’s work is eminently contemplative and wandering, aspects that are reflected in the very title of his paintings. The artist is particularly inspired by the forest landscapes around Beijing in winter. It uses many layers and shades of gray and white, punctuated with rare colors. At first glance, his work with its poetic and hushed atmosphere echoes, both visually and in its themes, traditional Chinese painting. Rao thus gives us to see scenes of vast natural landscapes, where solitary travelers evolve, classic metaphors of the human condition. The author also seems to be inspired by ancient Chinese philosophical notions, such as Taoist emptiness (Wu 無), Confucian humanism or Buddhist interdependence. His inspired, energetic and precise brushstrokes evoke the spirit of Chinese calligraphy.
Nevertheless, the artist uses clearly Western pictorial techniques. Moreover, certain recurring motifs denote a very contemporary reflection on the world. The rectilinear forest edges, in the background of a cleared or even devastated landscape, the red patterns contrasting discreetly with the overall pallor of the pictorial space that they dot here and there, testify to a concern, a feeling of bursting of landmarks, of a general loss of meaning. The solitary character, intimately connected or even mingled with the landscape which surrounds him and in which he seems to be groping his way, could well translate the quest of the artist and of the man, in search of a lost memory, of links to the world of its own and who knows, new avenues to explore.
REMARK
“It is often useless to speak in front of a work that upsets us. Throughout the thirteen years I’ve known Rao, I’ve gotten to know him better and better, but commentary has always been rare when I’m faced with his works.”
Zhong, poet
“Misty Landscapes, a film I once saw, alludes to the hypothetical existence of an ‘essence’ of human beings through the image of a tree that keeps disappearing and reappearing in fog. The landscape that I represent to myself reveals an order hidden under a chaotic appearance. The journey that will last our lifetime does not follow a predefined route, and its direction is barely discernible on the horizon. I won’t tell you about the result, the only thing I can tell you is that I’m still on the road. »
RAO Songqing
Exhibitions
Career
Solo exhibitions
2014
Rao Songqing Exhibition: Ambiguity Between Virtuality and Reality,
Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2013
Between the silence, Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2011
Rao Songqing Exhibition, Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
Solo exhibitions
2014
Rao Songqing Exhibition: Ambiguity Between Virtuality and Reality,
Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2013
Between the silence, Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2011
Rao Songqing Exhibition, Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2010
Rao Songqing Exhibition, Beijing, China
2009
Rao Songqing Exhibition on the paper, Beijing, China
2008
A Man’s Landscape, Yan Club Art Center, Beijing, China
A Man’s Landscape, Paris, France
Group exhibitions
2021
Contemporary Chinese Art, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2014
Bring a piece of landscape, Weirei Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2014
Quality, Upto Art Gallery, Beijing, China
2014
New Year Exhibition, Beijing, China
2012
Stand in a circle and watch, Yan Club Art Center, Beijing, China
2011
Literature Exhibition of Black and White Realism II, MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art Beijing), Beijing, China
2010
Purity – Contemporary Visual Art Exhibition, MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art Beijing), Beijing, China
2009
Width – Contemporary Visual Art Exhibition, MOCA, Beijing, China
2009
Silent Minority, MOCA, Beijing, China
2007
Meaning – Shaluo Oil Painting Exhibition, Beijing, China
Live in Songzhuang, Songzhuang Art Gallery, Beijing, China
Songzhuang Tour Exhibitions, Huantie Times Art Gallery, Beijing, China
2006
Metaphorical Reality, Beijing, China
Council International Auction, Beijing, China
Songzhuang Oil Painting, 1st Oil Painting Exhibition, East Zone, Beijing, China
2005
Identity Chinese – French artists Joint Exhibition, Beijing, China
Difference and Construction, Beijing, China
Action Structure Exhibition, Beijing
Songzhuang Special Exhibition, Guangzhou International Fair, Guangzhou
Literature Standpoint, Shanghai East Gallery, Shanghai
Corrode, Shanghai
2004
Contemporary Art 100 artists’ Exhibition, Beijing, China
Zhong Hong Xin Art Works Auction, Beijing, China
Songzhuang Special Exhibition, Guangzhou International Fair, Guangzhou
2003
Contemporary Visual Art Exhibition, Beijing, China
1st Youth Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Today’s China Great Art Exhibition, China Millennium Monument, Beijing, China
3rd China Oil Painting Exhibition, China Art Museum, Beijing, China
2002
Life Image Exhibition, Beijing, China
Zhong Hong Xin Art Works Auction in spring, Beijing, China
Contemporary Oil Painting Special Auction Show, China
Millennium Monument, Beijing, China
2001
Four Artists Show, Universal Classical Cultural Arts Co.Ltd, Beijing, China
Contemporary Oil Painting Exhibition, Military Museum, Beijing, China
1999
Standard and Transcend, Seventies Artists Group Exhibition, Wanfung Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1997
Wonder for the existence, Four Artists Exhibition, Beijing, China
1994
Newly Casts, China Art Gallery, Beijing
1993
China Youth Oil Painting Exhibition, International Artistic and Literary Realm Art Museum, Beijing, China
Yuanmingyuan Palace Artist Community Exhibition, Peking University, Beijing, China
1992
1st Professional Painters Group Exhibition, Beijing, China
1991
China Oil Paintings Exhibition, Hong Kong
Publications
30.00€