Mingyu Song

The Atlantic at the Edge of a Swimming Pool Part 3, 2016, acrylic on paper, 169 × 362 cm (not for sale)

SFD Code

Mingyu Song

Since 2016, Mingyu Song has been working on his unique painting project, commonly known as “SFD” (“Science Fiction Drawing”). According to the artist, the works of SFD “translate and edit today’s landscape into signs and symbols while disguising themselves as abstraction, relying on the computer graphics and special effects typically used to create scenes of fantasy and imagination in movies and novels.” In this exhibition, the first part of the SFD project has three sections: Section 1, entitled “The Atlantic at the Edge of a Swimming Pool” (2016), is composed of abstract signs rendered in traditional colors of Thailand; Section 2, entitled “Brighter Than the Day” (2017), reflects a relatively social narrative about perfect darkness and the light that passes over it; and Section 3, entitled “The Combination of Metal and Sugar” (2018), extracts, alters, and combines various images that inundate our daily lives.

The Atlantic at the Edge of a Swimming Pool Part 1, 2015, acrylic on paper, 144 × 132 cm (MMCA Art Bank)
The Atlantic at the Edge of a Swimming Pool Part 2, 2016, acrylic on paper, 118 × 336 cm

A Day in the Life of a Mental Laborer, 2017, acrylic, stainless steel, dimensions variable (Commissioned by Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art)

Encompassing all of these sections, the exhibition title SFD Code is also meant to invoke the characteristics of the social and cultural arrangements and compositional methodology that Mingyu Song references. His particular genre of science fiction typically features motifs relating to the universe, the light of celestial bodies, artificial objects and rays that cross between such bodies, futuristic narratives of war and migration, and landscapes tinged with romanticist or fin-de-siècle fantasies. By transforming and relocating such images, Song converts them into symbols with minimal representational traces, which eventually accumulate to form the visual “glossary” of his works: a darkness that is almost absolute; a striped moon that looks like an onion chip; a trajectory of light that discontinuously captures rapidly passing objects; and objects and events recorded by stains of ambiguous information. Viewers soon become familiar with this glossary, as the motifs are repeatedly expressed, combined, and superimposed in various ways.

Where the Night Is Brighter Than the Day 1, 2017, acrylic on canvas panel, 100 × 600 cm

How Six People Look at the Moon, 2017, acrylic on canvas panel, 100 × 600 cm

Speed of Darkness, 2017, acrylic on canvas panel, 180 × 720 cm (not for sale)

Metal & Sugar Part 1, 2018, acrylic on canvas panel, 29 × 40 cm (not for sale)
Metal & Sugar Part 2, 2018, acrylic on canvas panel, 65 × 40 cm (not for sale)

Ornamental Pipe, 2018, acrylic on PVC pipe, 170 × 45 × 100 cm (not for sale)

Song coined the term “sensory translation machine” to describe the mechanical process that is inherent to his works. Using acrylic paint, he creates pictorial planes that are indiscernible from computer graphics. His insistence on manually painting his works, rather than simply printing out computer graphics, shows his veneration of the subjective and intuitive intervention of the artist. For example, in Other Synthesizing (2019), he directly visualizes and cites the symbols of pictorial events by repeating stains that resemble splashes of paint. Hence, the sensory translation machine that has thus far defined his unique pictorial bandwidth seems to be expanding its scope from systematic, repetitive patterns to areas where more irregular and humanized symbols coexist.

Black Bay-1~4, 2018, acrylic on canvas panel, 100 × 100 cm (MMCA Art Bank, Korea and Incheon Foundation for Arts & Culture)

Unfolded Moon 1, 2018, acrylic on canvas panel, 78 × 270 cm

13 Moons, 2018, acrylic on canvas panel, 60 × 60 cm

Other Synthesizing Part 1, 2019, acrylic on canvas panel, 118 × 203 cm (not for sale)

Mingyu Song’s art world is inhabited by numerous images, information fragments, and cybernetic symbols, including shining planes made from digital signals, objects in topological states of motion, images of informatization captured by machines, and the glitched, distorted, or flickering afterimages of such informatization. In his works, these motifs catch the eye momentarily, before losing their context and being re-edited. Like the alchemy inferred by the title “The Combination of Metal and Sugar,” all of the disparate elements seem to have equivalence. Standing before these manifestations of infinite reading and discontinuity, viewers come to feel like gods peering down into the fragmented depths of transcendental algorithms. The endless bombardment of rapid emissions from these massive canvasses eventually elicits a sense of absurdity, which is, after all, the essence of the paintings.

Artistic Director Jinsang Yoo

Gray Outline, 2018, acrylic on canvas panel, 38 × 26 cm (28 pieces)

Gray Outline Part 3-01, 2019, acrylic on canvas panel, 400 × 400 cm (not for sale)

The Day the Saw Tooth Stopped, 2016, acrylic, stainless steel, 230 × 620 cm (not for sale)

The overlapping images within Mingyu Song’s works, which express the concept of the “speed of darkness” as a place and territory, recall: 1) the headlights of cars driving through darkness; 2) a white bird flying across the night sky; 3) the infinite fractal pattern of a rias coast; 4) sperm cells in fluid motion, like the stark symbol of life-giving water; 5) turbulence of ascending air; 6) geometric patterns in cave paintings; 7) anamorphosis of time and space, dramatically curved or bent according to Einstein’s catechism; 8) clouds that cannot be mapped by equations; 9) movies that embrace broken time; and 10) images of plants and other natural matter.

from “Metallurgic Rhythm of Computer Graphics and Sense of Medium as Testimony to Life” by NamSoo Kim (choreography critic)

Mingyu Song
b. 1981
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Wave Wave Wave, Cheongju Art Studio, Cheongju
2019 The Day the Saw Tooth Stopped, Incheon Art Platform Window Gallery, Incheon
Other Synthesizing, Art Space Tetra, Fukuoka, Japan
2018 Code: Black Bay, Gallery Lux, Seoul
Combination of Metal and Sugar, KSD Gallery, Seoul
2017 Brighter than the Day, Space Can, Seoul
2016 The Atlantic at the Edge of a Swimming Pool, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan
2012 Operation Plan: Allegory, Art Lounge Dibang, Seoul
2010 Slogan of Scene, Gallery King, Seoul
2008 Level 1, Gallery SoSo, Paju
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 Art and Energy, Jeonbuk Museum of Art, Jeonju
The Journey of Eternity, SeMA Bunker, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
2019 Platform Artists, Incheon Art Platform, Incheon
A Scene in One’s Memory, Gallery SoSo, Paju
2018 Artists On The Move, MMCA Goyang Residency, Goyang
Seoul Mediacity Biennale: A Good Life, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
2017 Something New, Goyang Aramnuri Arts Center, Goyang
Drawing Life, Guri Arts Hall, Guri
City Observation Log, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan
The New Acquisitions of Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan
2016 Treasure Island, Gyeonggi Creation Center, Ansan
Good Morning, Have A Nice Day!, Good Morning House, Suwon
2015 Mindful Mindless, SOMA Museum, Seoul
Expressions and Gestures, SOMA Museum, Seoul
Awards
2019 International Exchange Support, Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation
2018 Grant for Excellent Artist, Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation
KSD Art Prize, Korea Securities Depository, KSD Gallery
2017 SeMA Emerging Artists & Curators, Seoul Museum of Art
Grant for Emerging Artists, Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation
2016 Grant for Emerging Artists, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art
Selected Artist for Quantum Jump, Gyeonggi Creation Center
2008 Grant for Emerging Artists, Arts Council Korea
2006 Archive Registration, SOMA Drawing Center
Residencies
2020 Cheongju Art Studio, Cheongju
2019 Incheon Art Platform, Incheon
2018 MMCA Goyang Residency, Goyang
2016 Gyeonggi Creation Center, Ansan
Collections
MMCA Art Bank
Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art
SOMA Museum
Incheon Foundation Art Bank
Seoul Metropolitan Government Museum
Gana Art Center
HUNETPLUS
TAKOMA Technology Co.
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Pictures That Have Become an Allegory of Paintings of the World
Youngjun Lee

Not a single painting by Mingyu Song resembles any other work. That is because the world is made up of an endless number of elements and each of these elements is unique. Therefore, his paintings can be viewed as an allegory of the entire world. The word “allegory” originates from ἄλλος (allos), a Greek word that means difference. It also shares the same etimology with Allergy, which means an abnormal physical response to foreign elements. Allegory is where two completely different things are compared. Everyone equates the world of fancy material goods with growth or advancement, whereas others see the ruins of the modern era. That is the allegory espoused by Walter Benjamin, a German philosopher and literary critic. No matter how many paintings the artist creates, he is not able to draw all the pictures present in this world and there is natural a gap between what the artist draws and the paintings in the world. The difference caused by this gap is the source of allegory.

As the world is made up of myriad disparities, Song’s paintings are also full of countless differences. Accordingly, the variety of paintings created by the artist naturally differs. But those paintings are not the kind created by Song agonizing over how to compose paintings today that are different from those of yesterday. Even though the artist’s paintings try to embrace the whole world, they have their own differences. Even though he paints every day, every variation of color and shape has its own uniqueness. So, I first thought he was a genius. (Of course, he might be a genius; I have not asked him to take a math test yet.) In his works, there are square pixel patterns, indeterminate abstract patterns, curved forms that are seemingly dancing, and some figures in intersecting lines. When I follow his paintings this way, I feel like I’m going to collapse from exhaustion. Just as we follow everything in the world, we feel like we’re going to collapse from exhaustion. All the paintings that exist in the world fall upon the artist. Therefore, just as clouds and waves never cease, neither do these paintings.

The subtle differences shine in Mingyu Song’s paintings. But is “difference” a concept that can be simply reduced to the proposition “A is not B”? Such dissimilarities do not remain static but keep moving and reproducing themselves. Two things might be different at first, but they will become identical and vice versa later. In addition, the physical forms of these differences also continue to change. From a scientific perspective, unless the countless molecules that constitute the world remain at an absolute temperature of zero (minus 273 degrees Celsius), they continue to move. It is this molecular motion that makes such differences in matter. When such molecular movement affects humans, the perception and sensations we feel differ; when sensory differences are abstracted, it leads to differences in thinking. (Of course, this does not occur in an orderly manner.) This world is composed of a myriad of mills where all kinds of dissimilarities are ground. Mingyu Song’s paintings are supported by such mills. Therefore, there is no need to worry about depletion; when the artist draws a picture, it will be reborn.

Pictures That Have Become an Allegory of Paintings of the World
Youngjun Lee

Not a single painting by Mingyu Song resembles any other work. That is because the world is made up of an endless number of elements and each of these elements is unique. Therefore, his paintings can be viewed as an allegory of the entire world. The word “allegory” originates from ἄλλος (allos), a Greek word that means difference. It also shares the same etimology with Allergy, which means an abnormal physical response to foreign elements. Allegory is where two completely different things are compared. Everyone equates the world of fancy material goods with growth or advancement, whereas others see the ruins of the modern era. That is the allegory espoused by Walter Benjamin, a German philosopher and literary critic. No matter how many paintings the artist creates, he is not able to draw all the pictures present in this world and there is natural a gap between what the artist draws and the paintings in the world. The difference caused by this gap is the source of allegory.

As the world is made up of myriad disparities, Song’s paintings are also full of countless differences. Accordingly, the variety of paintings created by the artist naturally differs. But those paintings are not the kind created by Song agonizing over how to compose paintings today that are different from those of yesterday. Even though the artist’s paintings try to embrace the whole world, they have their own differences. Even though he paints every day, every variation of color and shape has its own uniqueness. So, I first thought he was a genius. (Of course, he might be a genius; I have not asked him to take a math test yet.) In his works, there are square pixel patterns, indeterminate abstract patterns, curved forms that are seemingly dancing, and some figures in intersecting lines. When I follow his paintings this way, I feel like I’m going to collapse from exhaustion. Just as we follow everything in the world, we feel like we’re going to collapse from exhaustion. All the paintings that exist in the world fall upon the artist. Therefore, just as clouds and waves never cease, neither do these paintings.

The subtle differences shine in Mingyu Song’s paintings. But is “difference” a concept that can be simply reduced to the proposition “A is not B”? Such dissimilarities do not remain static but keep moving and reproducing themselves. Two things might be different at first, but they will become identical and vice versa later. In addition, the physical forms of these differences also continue to change. From a scientific perspective, unless the countless molecules that constitute the world remain at an absolute temperature of zero (minus 273 degrees Celsius), they continue to move. It is this molecular motion that makes such differences in matter. When such molecular movement affects humans, the perception and sensations we feel differ; when sensory differences are abstracted, it leads to differences in thinking. (Of course, this does not occur in an orderly manner.) This world is composed of a myriad of mills where all kinds of dissimilarities are ground. Mingyu Song’s paintings are supported by such mills. Therefore, there is no need to worry about depletion; when the artist draws a picture, it will be reborn.