Acrylic on canvas

116×76 cm. 45 5/8×29 7/8 in

Signed in Chinese and Pinyin, dated on bottom right； signed and titled in Chinese, dated on reverse

LITERATURE
2018, Age 18 of the Artists, China Photographic Publishing House, Beijing, p.235
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia
This work is accompanied by an original photograph of the artist with the painting.

A Pioneer of Contemporary Chinese Cold Abstract Art
Appearance of Crosses
by Ding Yi
In the 1980s, when a collective restless “humanistic passion” for political, social and native subjects emerged in the Chinese art community in line with the movement of modern fine arts, the rational Ding Yi did not follow the mainstream but went down an artistic path centered about simplification through calm speculation. He used the simplest cross form to dispel reality-oriented elements and focus on manifestation of the spirit, which made him an important pioneer of contemporary Chinese abstract art.
In the design and print industry, crosses are used as coordinate markers during the process of chromatography. This mark, which lends no imaginative space through any symbolism, becomes the means by which Ding Yi brings the painting back to exploring the essence of form. He has been creating the Appearance of Crosses since 1988, and for 30 years has adhered to using the cross as the sole element in his painting. Through his continuous exploration and breakthroughs in media, color and methods of combination, he has extended his creative system to be richly varied but unified in spirit.
Freehand Drawing： Free Expression under Rules
The painting Appearance of Crosses 98-9 presented at this time shows Ding’s early attention to the authenticity of the painting brush strokes and his pursuit of the pure spiritual painting. It is one of the most descriptive of Ding Yi’s series of the “Appearance of Crosses.”
The year 1991 ended the first phase of the Appearance of Crosses. Ding Yi gave up his pursuit of precision and smoothness, turning to a freehand painting that no longer made use of tools such as rulers. In the Appearance of Crosses 98-9, Ding Yi repeatedly plots the same “+” and “x” symbols with his hands on the linen cloth. The lines are slightly curved and blurred, reflecting his notion of “precision in freedom.” The “x” is an extension and variation of the “+”； they not only form an intersection of two planes, but interweave a three-dimensional visual tension of movement in the constant overlaps, creating a sense of a profound and variable3D space through the precise pattern layout. The intersections of the black brush strokes form neatly aligned “dots of ink, ” which cut the picture into numerous square blocks of similar sizes, creating a brand new visual experience for the viewer.
Visual Rhythm： Contemporary Painting’s Interpretation of Spirit
Ding Yi set a constraint that, in making the black and white Appearance of Crosses, he can only re-dip the brush when the paint on the brush is used up. This produces the white “variation of shades, ” and this kind of variation creates a very unstable perspective of space. Because of this, Appearance of Crosses 98-9 further integrates a gray background； the large area of gray reveals a smooth industrial metallic luster in the flow created by the black and white crosses. The unevenly scattered pink crosses further present looming strokes, as if to mimic the lively rhythm of life. Ding Yi has distilled and injected the social spirit into the visual experience created by his changing brushwork in a time when society and industry in China are developing rapidly and the human environment is becoming increasingly open and liberal.

Price estimate:
HKD: 680, 000 - 780, 000
USD: 87, 200 - 100, 000

Auction Result:
HKD: --