Bada Song: ‘Pollock’ (2007), performance at no12 studio space at Brixton, London
Bada Song has a solo exhibition at The Agency gallery in Deptford, 21 September – 20 October. Congratulations are also due to Song, who has just won second prize in the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 – the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK.
Bada Song: Body and Shelter
Gallery 1 and Gallery 2
Preview Thursday, 20th September, 6-9pm,
21st September – 20th Oct 2012
the Agency | 66 Evelyn Street | London | SE8 5DD
The Agency is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the Korean artist Bada Song.
‘Ta‐iL’, a Korean phonetic equivalent for Tile is the title for a recent series of drawings for which Bada Song has just been awarded 2nd prize in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012. Here drawing means a dense repetitive set of graphite marks, which act as a thick layer on the monochromatic background. The marks are so densely overlapping that they almost become a relief, morphing from drawing to object. ‘Ta‐iL’ is the artist’s way of capturing the essence of traditional Korean roof coverings, which is now rare since the ambitious modernisation and rapid re‐design of Korea’s cities. Heritage is forfeited in the name of progress. The importance of the tile and the traditional family house roof remains a protective memory.
Bada Song: Roof (2006), photo etching, 58 x 76 cm (1/12)
The metaphor of the roof or shelter is a recurring point of reference for Song’s work. It is often made from makeshift, unstable renderings. It does not refer to any dwelling, but it functions as a temporary shelter. In 2007 Song performed ‘ Pollock’ , an informal take on painting and the body which also can read as creating a roof‐like construction with her body and head as the performance evolved.
Repetitive movement in the process of creation, density achieved from light materials and minute variations are both reliant on the physical mark, the specific body presence of the artist as much as they are meditative processes of transition. The density created through repetition gradually becomes a covering, a shelter containing the body, albeit an ephemeral resting point. Song’s work is as much indebted to the Korean traditions as it reminds of a Beuysian essence. The interplay between drawing / object, body / shelter and body / drawing provides the interconnecting thread for most of her practice.
