SingartArt Crossing Dusk
Ivory black, or ‘pigment black 9’ and ‘bone char’, is an artist’s dye that was once made by grinding charred ivory in oil. Today, actual ivory is no longer used, given the expense and the fact that the fauna that are natural sources of ivory are now internationally controlled as endangered species. With charred bones of butchered livestock as the current substitute, it continues to be used in artist’s paint, printmaking, calligraphic and drawing inks, as well as other artistic applications.
By naming his 1st solo exhibition in South East Asia “Ivory Black”, China’s forerunner of internationally acclaimed contemporary Chinese abstract artists, Ding Yi, has put on display 11 of his more recent paintings from his signature series, “Appearance of Crosses”, 1 gravity defying installation and a public art sculpture – all appearing in differing shades of dusk.
By imbuing his installation, “Flying Stones”, in this reserved shade of pitch-blackness it aptly becomes a metaphor of infinite matter, demonstrating the precariousness of reality and the mystical galaxy – a universal reality he realizes through his exploration of the existence of unforeseen natural phenomena.
Surprisingly drenched in the same reserved dark tones of colour, his of late “Appearance of Crosses” series continues with his renowned systematic compositions and variations of the same motifs – the ‘+’ and ‘x’ – in repetitive multiplications; each proliferating by two simple brush-stroked gestures.
The overlapping of these ‘+’ and ‘x’ maintains his creative genius in producing an interesting surface that constantly oscillates between flatness and pictorial depth. Thus gaining a kind of tension between movements in two dimensions that becomes a complex three dimensional system straddling a state of razor-sharp, stationary precision and slippery fluidity – all with the aim of interpreting the strength of the Chinese spirit in this state of flux within the microcosm of the restless rhythms of urban Shanghai, where Ding was born and raised.
Dynamic changes of this city are vividly captured in his paintings even though they continue to break away from the framework of traditional narrative to represent life abstractly. The implication of the 2 signs he paints in correlates humans to the universe: we are to keep sober and independent minds within our collective consciousness in ways that imply a Zen-like ambiance – 1 that highlights Ding’s exacting attitude in art creation.
Given that his current “Appearance of Crosses” artworks have changed from the expansive vibrant colors that had catapulted him to global fame, since the late 1980s, to the muted tones associated with night, is Ding further questioning the developmental outcome of the evolution his home city has presently emerged from?
Or is he acknowledging that the impetus that had driven him to repeatedly paint ‘+’ and ‘x’ have come to a desirable end?
For Ding had adopted the compact recurring minute crosses as a direct expression of freedom from any social or ideological expectations for artistic practice with the then persistent social and political turmoil within China: the sign of the cross became the relevant way the mainland Chinese were to perceive the organization of the cosmos, while remaining free of specific references to immediate reality.
Consequently, he had infinitely covered paper, canvas, fabric and cardboard with these two symbols, often forming intricate patterns slightly reminiscent of woven or patchwork structures, or even of ‘pixels’. As a result, forming superstructures that in turn allow rectangles, lines and triangles to appear.
In every instance, he was drawn to the structural and systematic perception that this motif promised: he was acutely aware that regardless of Eastern or Western artistic traditions, the prospect of toeing the line or mechanically copying would have destroyed him. He had no option but to make the art he created become unfamiliar to the characteristics and expressiveness of painting upheld as models in the 1980s.
Hence, his paintings did not dwell on the issues of language, form, or composition and connotation. He was, instead, obsessed with giving order to a completely chaotic existence by breaking through the restrictions of a constrained environment: he painted from the simple to the complex, only to return to a simplistic core – the idea, and not the abstraction.
His “Appearance of Crosses, number 1” in 1988, in vibrant red, yellow and green, indicated his bold determination to return to the fundamentally basic level of artistic practice itself. The vibrancy of the hues he went on to use became as much his trademark as did his ‘+’ and ‘x’.
Does this series’ current muted tones of dusk also herald his liberation to pursue a totally new phase in his artistic development?
Arrive at your own conclusions after viewing Ding’s current “Ivory Black” exhibition at ShanghART Singapore, 9 Lock Road, #02-22 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108937. It will run till 15 March this year.
Feature photo: Ding Yi’s “Flying Stones”
