Song Ping

Song Ping has been engaged in painting for over twenty years. Since he became interested in fine art in High School, he has studied chinese ink painting as well as the history of both Chinese and western art forms.

In 1978 he graduated with honors from the Fine Art Department of The Shanghai College of Drama, and accepted an invitation to teach. A year later he bacame a professional painter working six years for the Chinese Artists Association. In 1985 he accepted a position to teach at the College of Fine Art, Shanghai University. In 1988, as an exchange professor, he came to the Department of Art, Lehman College, City College of New York, where he taught Chinese ink painting and the history of Chinese art. His performance there was widely praised by both the students and faculty members of the school.

From 1983-85, Song Ping's work won award prizes for excellence several time at exhibitions in Bei-Jing, Shanghai, and Nan-Jing. He also had shows in Japan, Denmark, and the United States of America, as well as a travel exhibition in four African countries. In 1987, he held a one-person show at the Shanghai Museum of Fine Art, which was considered an unusual honor for an artist of his young age in the one billion population of China.

Song Ping's art is rooted in the Chinese painting tradition. He has succeeded in the combining of the technical strong points on Chinese cultural painting withe styles of western art forms. Song Ping utilizes Chinese stone paints and ink as well as western acrylics and watercolors. He paints on both sides of rice paper, then mounts the painting on a second sheet of rice paper. This produces a painting of amazing durability and longevity.

Despite being influenced by the styles of the modern western painters, Song Ping's work is distinquished with the sensibilities of
Chinese minority folk art. To expose himself to new sources of inspiration, he manages to stay with the minorities in the provences of southwestern and northwestern China for two months every year.

"I have made a lot of trips to the minority regions, not only to chase the exotic atmosphere, but to seek the identity of human nature. With the poeple who live in those less developed areas, one is more likely to recognize the most
valuable part of human nature, due to their remaining primitive simplicity and relative unsophistication. The local
customs, especially the way they dress, serve as a good example of their originality in taste. I think over here you can find the very essence of Chinese civilization and culture. Whenever I come here, my mind is full of joy and peace in addressing nature, thus leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the metropolitan life."

With all these concepts in mind, Song Ping has depicted his ideal world.