SOLO EXHIBITION

< Moon Viewing Platform >

• Online Catalogue: New Paintings by MIRA SONG 
• Exhibition Essay by Robert Lynds Gallery:

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< Moon Viewing Platform >

Navigating a new environment requires a focused sensitivity that allows the visitor to property interpret their surroundings; appropriately distinguishing the spaces that you can enter from those that are closed to you. Though this heightened perception can exhaust the mind, it often unearths spaces of tranquillity that are overlooked by habitants. In her solo exhibition, ‘Moon Viewing Platform’, Mira Song has employed the mental process of adaptation and transformation in her painting.

The concept behind the show’s title ‘Moon Viewing Platform’ is based on the constant presence of the moon as a touchstone in Song’s transition between Korea and Canada. Song’s emigration to Vancouver has situated the artist in a place of “floating” between her native and adopted cultures. Based on her attraction to parks and gardens in Seoul, which serve as physical sites for meditation, ‘Moon Viewing Platform’ incorporates the concept of the Asian garden designed around a space to view the moon. Song speaks to the underlying force of the cycles of the moon on the human experience; equating those to the cycles and rhythms of a city and one’s physical position of perception. This position has drawn the artist to find a sense of solace and home in her studio and practice, translating her experience with painting, creating alternative sites for self-reflection and contemplation.

Song originally approached her medium as means of expression of pre-set concepts, allowing her to portray imaginative miniature forms and environment. Her practice is based on memories of childhood perception and imagination, focusing on inner-space of forms, such as a tea pot or a bonsai tree. The shift in perspective while engaging in these micro-spaces encourages the process of transcending layers of consciousness and cogitation.

Song’s adaptation to her change of environment is reflected in the evolution of her technique and approach in her practice; allowing the unearthing process to lea her through her paintings. Song’s practice has grown towards exploring the media and process of painting itself; focusing on the materiality of paint, the action, and freedom in mark making. Her work ‘Moon Viewing Platform’ has evolved to becoming more graphic, incorporating flat aspects that juxtapose her architectural forms and scenes. The three-dimensional spatial elements of her previous work are still present, but are no longer the focus. The works demand the act of slow-engagement; discerning areas that tare activated, in which the viewer feels they can enter, and those to which are closed to them.

Mira song is an interdisciplinary artist based on Vancouver BC, and Seoul, South Korea. This is her second solo-exhibition in Vancouver.