“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

— James 1:8

Once an artwork is complete, it loses any connection to its creator. Ding Yi’s works, from the lens of Chinese calligraphy, could be deduced as: a horizontal stroke, a vertical stroke, a stroke to the left and to the right, of one heart and one mind, for one lifetime. Analyzing the works through the language of universal geometric figures and mathematical logic, one could describe it as: horizontal lines, vertical lines and lines with 45 degrees of inclination on the left and right. These four lines (which Ding Yi calls “appearance of crosses”) converge symmetrically at a single point, and are arranged in a square, becoming his basic visual elements. This can be said to be the most formal pattern, and Ding Yi, as much as possible, has been making them, stroke after stroke, painting after painting, from 1988 until today.

In the chaotic and disordered visible world, the most orderly shapes and proper scribbles can vary infinitely with changes of structure and color. Intentionally or unintentionally, Ding Yi’s “Appearance of Crosses” series of works from the 1990s to the present constantly evolve with subtle shifts in the signified — which aesthetically record the traces of his game with life. The more recent the work, the more similar it seems to this “contemporaneity” of science and numbers, but it also reveals a subtle message.

Painting is the oldest form of art, and in its development up to the present, every tiny forked path is layered with the footsteps of geniuses. Innovation is the goal of formalists, and a flood of people have sweated their way toward it, resulting in a wearisome excess of forms — wearisome from retina to mind. In terms of aesthetics, people tend to love the new and hate the old, but their spiritual needs are for universal convergence, the integration of ancient and modern. In this world of transformation, in the mode and effect of the mind, what is new has already been. What is to come has already been, and what has passed will come again. There is nothing new under the sun, for human nature never changes.

Experience! Only experience is the most precious! Life is made up of countless experiences so vivid and exquisite that others can only look on and imagine. There’s no means for substitution.

Graphic painting can be infinitely rich, but the basic factors are: form, color, brushwork. For Ding Yi himself, once the form (composition) and color are set, the most important thing is the brushwork: the concrete action of every stroke, the exquisite experience of every moment, the long persistence day after day, year after year… These are really experienced. Experienced, like the passing of time, the sand of an hourglass, the hands of a clock. Experience is transformed into visual objects, and what the audience sees is a picture full of formal beauty. Sensitive observers can speculate on the state of the artist during the painting process, but it is only speculation after all. The artist’s own real experience cannot be replaced by any supposition.

The universe is infinite, the human mind is disordered, and the world is in flux. In this unpredictable world, Ding Yi uses the highly orderly “appearance of crosses” to anchor his soul and comb through his mind. This method is rational, and the form of the “appearance of crosses” also exudes a strong rationality. But there is a huge gap between the presupposition and the actual execution — day after day, year after year — of this concrete action. It is a long test of free will and unruly emotion. A long “labor” of the body. Of course, the euphoria of discovery and creation can be there, too, coming unexpectedly or even in waves over a long course of action.

The experience of life is like drinking water. The “Appearance of Crosses” series of works, accumulated stroke by stroke, are also the process of Ding Yi’s physical experience growing bit by bit. In the process of drawing/painting his iconic “appearance of crosses,” it has been difficult to deduce whether inspiration spawned the “appearance of crosses” or the “appearance of crosses” induced inspiration. In each emerging work, the viewer sees changing forms.

In the works of the 1990s, the composition order of each painting is as simple as possible, and the colors are deep and restrained. The importance of the basic element of the “appearance of crosses” is highlighted through “multi-directionally linked” repetition with no variation. The long-continuing painting of the “appearance of crosses” is a repeated affirmation of rationality, calmness, persistence and restraint. It naturally creates distance from the outside, contemporary world, choosing no change in response to infinite change. This kind of active withdrawal and shielding is closely related to the situation the artist was in at that time. It was during this long, quiet process when he could experience a belief in the rational, or even super-rational, through the stability, clarity and affirmation of the “appearance of crosses.”

In Ding Yi’s recent works, the “appearance of crosses” have receded, becoming pixels, combining into ever-changing images, colors and levels in random colors and hidden peaks and valleys. However, all changes are inseparable from their roots: what began from the “appearance of crosses,” returns to the “appearance of crosses.” In these works, Ding Yi demonstrates the vast possibilities and interest of geometric figures and mathematical logic with eye catching richness. These pieces have tons of detail, but the backbone of the picture is a cross at a 45-degree angle. It is not born out of nothing, but has accumulated over a long period, for it is an organic part of the “appearance of crosses” — the cross with a 45-degree tilt, full of movement, and the mutual effect of the horizontal-vertical cross, forms the coexistence, symbiosis and co-construction of static and movement, conservative and open tension.

In addition to the strong sense of movement formed by the tilt of 45 degrees, there is also a sense of light flashing in many paintings. This was also an original function of the “appearance of crosses.” The “appearance of crosses” are launched from a central point and extend in eight directions, flashing against a dark background, like an eight-pointed star.

The dynamic of rich change sometimes affects the “appearance of crosses” itself. At the level of the smallest unit of the ” appearance of crosses,” the parallel repetition of lines forms double ” appearance of crosses.” Color is used to fill the double line, and the visual effect is similar to musical “harmony.” In a “appearance of crosses” unit, each line is a different color, which increases the richness of the color. After covering a wood board with a variety of colors, layer by layer, an instrument is used to carve into the surface from different angles. On the inclined section of different areas, multiple background colors are stacked layer upon layer, and the richness of the layers is also revealed.

On the premise of not changing the basic element of the “appearance of crosses”, Ding Yi began adding never-before-seen dots/dashes. They are located symmetrically at the end or middle end of each line of an “appearance of crosses,” becoming active factors in the existing pattern. Although there are many changes in color and strokes, the uniform coverage of the “appearance of crosses” in all directions is an established and invariable order. The dots/dashes are sporadic, growing large or small. Their appearance greatly enhances the flexibility of the picture, and does not subvert the existing image and order of the “appearance of crosses.”

The rich variations within many aspects and levels of Ding Yi’s painting practice reveal the power of his visual language. The images, colors, brushstrokes, and layers of ground color of the “appearance of crosses ” and dots/dashes have become his signature, and he orchestrates and improvises their wonders as if he were a composer or a software engineer. These pictures, full of visual charm, reflect Ding Yi’s feelings and thoughts within our new paradigm.

The 45-degree tilt carries all kinds of complex changes, rotations, fluctuations, flickerings… It’s all happening in there. Summoning a note of openness, the creativity of the artist is constantly unfolding, and his work’s abundant vitality is constantly refreshed. In the evolution of geometric figures and mathematical logic, freedom craves and depends on order. Order encourages and preserves freedom. These painstaking efforts complement each other, and lead to occasional flashes of unexpected, unspeakable brilliance.

In terms of principles and rules, these works echo our current flourishing and rapid times. On a global scale, the rise of data and algorithms has lead to a sudden geometric increase of material and information. The world has been opened to more dimensions. Contemporary society has consciously and unconsciously entered an unprecedented state of high complexity. These works are also the artist’s call and praise for openness in a local context. In openness, free will and creative talent flow smoothly into the rivers and oceans of human civilization. Only those who enjoy the benefits of opening-up can continue to share in its fruits by maintaining and promoting it.

In abstracting the appearance of truth, Ding Yi is in line with his predecessors in abstract art; although, their contexts and aesthetic languages differ: “The harmony of colour and form must, strictly speaking, be based solely on the principle of touching the human soul” (Kandinsky); “I want to get as close to reality as possible, to abstract away the fundamentals of everything” (Mondrian); “Show the feeling of flying… The sound of metal… The sense of wireless telegraphy… the sense of conveying movement and repulsion, the sense of ‘mysterious waves’ from outer space… and even the sense of ‘non-objectivity’ ” (Malevich).

The “appearance of crosses” chosen by Ding Yi come from the Cartesian coordinate system, also known as the rectangular coordinate system. The two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system can also be extended to three-dimensional space and higher dimension. The world of physical intuition is chaotic. The Cartesian coordinate system comes from the transcendental premise, namely the creator (I AM WHO I AM), which Descartes calls “the first driving force”. The masters of abstract art — Kandinsky, Mondrian, Malevich, Rothko, Newman — tirelessly used their own visual languages to approach this magical energy. In this direction, Mondrian said, “Art should be fundamentally divorced from the external form of nature, with the purpose of expressing the abstract spirit, and pursue the absolute realm of the unity of man and creator.”

In a world of impermanence, the heart is a “appearance of crosses” coordinates, a consistent, often draw often new. During this long journey, encounters with the outer world frequently fluctuate with self-examination. The understanding of the “appearance of crosses” and the concrete drawing of them day after day reinforce and verify one another. It is an organic fusion of experience, rationality and super-rational belief, just like the “appearance of crosses” itself. “But ask in faith without any doubt; For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind,” (James 1:6). What is achieved by those who doubt and those who expose themselves to ten days of cold?

Translate from Chinese by GS Young | 阿贵