WILLIAM SONG

Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.
Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.Solar IV, 2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 30 in.Nocturne I, 2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 48 in.
Untitled, 2010, oil and wax on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Community Series 2, 2008-10, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Community Series 6, 2009-10, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Community Series 7, 2009-10, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.A Magical Story, 2009, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in.
Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in.Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.Untitled, 2010, oil and wax on canvas, 24 x 30 in.
Seed, 2005, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Convergence II, 2004, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Convergence I, 2004, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.Demora, 2008, oil on canvas, 12 x 9 in.
Elements (earth), 2004-10, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.Elements (fire), 2004-10, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.Elements (air), 2004-10, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.

These paintings explore light as visual harmonics. Light carries a continuum of subtle frequencies. While an optical prism reveals some of these energies as colors, we can intuit others through what is in effect the prism of our consciousness. Paintings for me are a way of condensing light into expressive energy. Since energy continually transmutes itself all around us — as compression transmutes carbon into diamond — my work conveys color, form and space as experiences of transition and potentiality.

It is a source of wonder how some color and line on canvas can prompt recognition of certain qualities of nature or states of being, which can be as diverse as openness, play, struggle, tenderness, fury, or how it may be possible to express combinations of these in the same painting. When diverse elements rest in cohesive balance, a pulse arises into a clarity of presence.

In sound, there is a phenomenon known as shared or sympathetic vibrations, where a tuning fork that is struck emits vibrations that cause a nearby tuning fork to vibrate at the same frequency, creating a shared resonance. A painting, communicated through light, has a parallel effect when its vibrative qualities ignite a resonance in us. Whether held by light or held by sound, both mediums offer a way of holding us in energy in motion. The power of a painting is its capacity to allow us to enter the stillness within that motion – to enter the cohesive unity of the present moment.

William Song

Resides in Seattle, Washington
Influenced by year-long stays in Rome, Italy,
Kyoto, Japan, Santa Fe, New Mexico,
and travel to India

Education

University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D.), Philadelphia, PA
Watson Fellowship - independent research in Italy and England
Hamilton College (B.A., English literature), Phi Beta Kappa,
Clinton, NY

Contact

wsong77@gmail.com

Exhibitions

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Arnold Building & 1616 Eastlake Avenue East Building
Seattle, WA (December, 2010 - November, 2011)

Harborview Medical Center

Exhibition
Seattle, WA (July - September, 2010)

Seattle City Hall

Group show
Seattle, WA (April - June, 2010)

ArtXchange Gallery

Group show
Seattle, WA (May - June, 2009)

Second Floor Salon

Group show
San Francisco, CA (October, 2004)