"Small Works on Paper by Ding Yi "
2004-07-16 until 2004-07-30
ShanghArt
Shanghai, , CN China

This exhibition at ShanghART includes works (on paper or corrugated board) from Ding Yi's older, quiter, more meditativ period of the late 1990's. An other series of works at this exhibition, - works Ding Yi did while he was artists in residence in the German artist community in Worpswede in 2001 - shows the the beginnings of Ding Yi's new experiments with brigher colors and less rigid, more disolved surfasce structure. In the last few years, as a reaction to the increasing brightness and loudness of the city, Ding Yi's works got also brighter and livelier and the overall structure of his works got more disolved.

However also in his newest works, Ding Yi maintained the rigid cross structure, the minitious repetions of small brush strokes, which has been the basis of his works for the last 15 years. The change from Ding Yi's older, quiter, more meditative style to the his current more brigher, restless direction can be seen clearly in Ding Yi's works on paper of the last few years.

On Ding Yi's works:

"'Shishi' is a technical term used by the trade in colour printing. It signifies the precision achieved by using coordinates to identify a specific spot or place. Since 1988 Ding Yi has appropriated this language to draw attention to his desire to present the appearance of that which is real. The glimmer and rhythm of natural colours construct the commonplace and unregulated visual experience that constitutes everyday life. In Ding Yi's paintings this experience is distilled into grids that are layered one upon the other and which give expression to the artist's desire for free individual, spiritual and conceptual expression."

--Li Xu

In addition to the consistent purity, there are fluorescence and other fashion elements in Ding Yi’s recent works, which creates the shade of aura. In front of the simple and peaceful images, we often feel meaninglessly fascinated. Ding’s canvas works have been shown in many major domestic and international art exhibitions, for example: La Biennale di Venezia in Italy, Shanghai Biennale in Shanghai, "Living in Time"-Contemporary Artists form China in Germany etc.

Ding Yi, born in 1962, graduates for Shanghai Arts & Crafts Institute in 1983, and from Shanghai University in 1990, he was artist in residence, Kuenstlerhauser Wropswede in Germany in 2001, lives and works in Shanghai now.

IMAGE
DING YI
Appearance of 2001-B14
colored pen on paper
50 x 70 cm
2001

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