By dissolving figurative narratives with minimalist cross and X-shaped symbols, Ding Yi has established an exclusive oriental abstract visual system through decades of iterative abstract language. Free from the constraints of physical object appearances, he relies on interwoven lines and layered color tones to transform repetitive basic symbols from decorative patterns into spiritual carriers that record contemporary social sentiments and facilitate inner self-reflection.
The Shi Ji (Apparent Mark) series constitutes the core and most recognizable body of work throughout Ding Yi’s career. Adhering strictly to three primitive elements — crosses, grids and diagonal lines — he never incorporates external imagery. All stylistic evolutions are achieved solely by adjusting line density, color temperature and layout rhythm. His early black-and-white Shi Ji works eliminate chromatic interference entirely, creating intense visual tension via crisscrossing lines to illustrate rational order. Later works integrate vivid color blocks, generating sharp visual conflicts within standardized symbolic layouts and realizing a shift from restrained rationality to unrestrained emotional expression.
Three representative prints spanning different creative phases are on display. Shi Ji – Black and White No.1 and Shi Ji – Black and White No.2, completed in 2007, are iconic examples of his early monochrome abstract creation. Uniform intersecting cross lines fill the canvas, exploring the blurred boundary between nihilism and order, with extremely limited remaining print editions. Completed in 2019, Seventy-Three Circles breaks the confines of flat canvases. Using handmade Fuyang rice paper and aluminum alloy mounting, it combines circular layouts with cross symbols, merging two-dimensional prints and three-dimensional artifacts and expanding the display boundaries of abstract art.
