Exhibit examines artist with a cross to bear
Artist Ding Yi is regarded as a pioneer of abstraction in China.
The title, “King of Crosses,” is just perfect for Ding Yi, an artist who never gets bored with painting crosses.
The cross is a dominant symbol in his works. Sometimes there are so many and so close together that they resemble textile patterns. Yet despite using only crosses in his art, his oeuvre is far from prosaic. He overlays them, switches colors and patterns, creating textures within his grids.
His solo-exhibition, “Interchange,” featuring his most recent paintings from the “Appearance of Crosses” series together with his installation work “Painting Stand,” is currently on display at ShanghART through January 6, 2019.
As the strongest visual component of the artist’s practice, the latticed lines and patterns of crosses continue to be featured heavily in the exhibited works on basswood, canvas and paper.
Refined from the meaning of “tridimensional” and “intersectional,” “Interchange” actually indicates his recent exploration on the layers and composition of his paintings. This can be examined in more than 10 pieces of basswood painting finished after 2015.
Ding used a thicker and harder basswood boards as the base and covered them with heavy acrylic colors. Then he carves out strong and sharp lines or cut surfaces of different shades, thus creating resonance among brushstrokes, paint layers and texture of basswood.
Born in 1961 in Shanghai, Ding graduated from Shanghai Arts and Crafts Institute in 1983 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Shanghai University in 1990.
A piece of work from Ding’s recent painting series “Appearance of Crosses,” mixed media on basswood
The practice of the artist encompasses painting, sculpture, spatial installation and architecture. He works primarily with “+” and its variant “x” as formal visual signals, above and against the political and social allegories typical of painting in China.
Crosses, as he later claims, “break away from the tradition, as they have no meanings between the lines.”
In fact, he chose this sign in the second half of the 1980s as a synonym of structure, rationality and a pictorial expressiveness that reflects the essence of things.
Since the late 1980s, Ding’s exploration of the pure and merely formalized signs of “crosses” appears throughout his artistic work, the practice of a dedicated painter living in today’s dense world.
Presenting a contrast to the progression of materials and techniques, the constant “+” and “x” crosses vitalize his works with immersive rationality in an extremely simple gesture.
The continuous and long-standing work process can be viewed as an evocation of energy, or Zen. Behind the almost minimalist system is the accumulation of the artist’s self-discipline and instinct.
Ding started the “crosses” within the context of his confusion about urbanization, however his artistic system showcases an inward tendency toward spirituality after nearly four decades of endeavors.
The 57-year-old artist has exhibited extensively at various institutions and galleries, and his work has also been included at the 45th Venice Biennale (1993).
This ongoing exhibition also displays his installation piece featuring a pile of dazzling fluorescent hued canvas without crosses.
“I just want to reflect my ordinary working scene to the visitors,” Ding says. “This is the canvas base before I started to work, and I am very familiar with it, so I hope my art lovers would approach me and my working style more closely.”
A piece of work from Ding’s recent painting series “Appearance of Crosses,” mixed media on basswood
"Painting Stand" by Ding Yi
Exhibition Info
Date: Through January 6 (closed on Mondays), 11am-8pm
Venue: ShanghART Shanghai
Address: West Bund, Bldg 10, 2555 Longteng Ave
