“Pleasure Ground in Sagimakgol Village” (1984) is part of the “Pleasure Ground Landscape” series inspired by the amusement park near Seongnam High School where Song worked as a teacher. The ordinary people enjoying their leisure time on the green grass are
a collage made of images cut out from magazines, vividly reflecting the changing lifestyles of the time. The images of people sitting clustered here and there may remind viewers of 1980s leisure culture and the amusement parks of various sizes constructed in
urban areas including Seoul Grand Park. At the same time, the statues commemorating soldiers holding guns and images of skeletons with Korean People’s Army military caps standing against the red sky remind viewers of the ongoing reality of the Korean Peninsula’s division. The horrifying image of a Korean People’s Army soldier is an element that shows in a stark manner the anti-communist ideology inscribed by national division, through which Song aimed to criticize the political strategy of the regime that attempted to encourage leisure while instigating anti-communism.
Song Chang (b. 1952) graduated from the Department of Painting at Chosun University in 1980 and received his master’s degree from the Department of Painting at Kyungwon University in 1990. He has held solo exhibitions at multiple venues including Geurimmadang Min in 1986; Ondara Art Center in 1988; “The Landscape of Division” at Garam Art Gallery in 1991; “The Forest of Memory: Pine Tree” at Donga Gallery in 1997; “Landscape: The Day After” at Namu Gallery in 2011; “Flower-Shade” at Hakgojae Gallery in 2017; and “66 Years: Lyricism of the Korean Peninsula’s Division” at Gwangju Museum of Art in 2018. Song has also participated in group exhibitions including “The 3rd Young Power Consciousness” at Kwanhoon Gallery in 1983; “Tricenarian Pioneers of Our Times” and “Politics and Art” at Geurimmadang Min in 1986 and 1987, respectively; “The Status of Korean Art？1980” at Han River Art Museum and “Minjoong Art: A New Cultural Movement from Korea” at Artists Space, New York, in 1988; “Gwangju Biennale: The Testimony of History” at Gwangju Museum of Art in 1995; “The 1980’s Realism and the Age” at Gana Art Center in 2001; “The 2nd Realism of Our Time？The Future Fading Away”at Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonghuigung Palace in 2011; “DMZ Art + Book Project for Peace: Winter Winter Winter, Spring” at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in 2012; and “Regrettable Times” at Seoul Museum of Art in 2018.
Song Chang became aware of the realities of Korean society at an early age as he graduated from college in Gwangju the same year as the Gwangju Democratization Movement. Shortly after, he joined the art group Imsulnyeon upon its foundation in 1982. Song’s “Landfill” series, first introduced at the inaugural exhibition of Imsulnyeon, disclosed the reality of the people who gathered in suburban areas after being displaced. Meanwhile, since 1984 Song has focused on the dark reality created by the Korean Peninsula’s division. Since his first solo exhibition at Geurimmadang Min in 1986, he has been seen as portraying the reality of division in a daring, original manner, focusing on figurative paintings using various symbols and signs. From the 1990s onwards, Song began to pursue a path of intensifying existing themes through expressionist techniques in which the matiere stands out. And since 2003, he has expanded the scope of his subjects to include natural landscapes and figure drawing.
