Footnotes

Provenance
Sale: Beijing Poly International Auction, Beijing, We are together - Beijing Poly 2008 Chinese Contemporary Art Charity Auction for Wenchuan Earthquake, 29 May 2008, Lot 13
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Literature
Peking University Press, A History of Art in Twentieth-Century China, Beijing, China, 2009, p. 965, illustrated in colour

丁乙
十示系列：97-43
壓克力 格子布
1997年作

簽名：丁乙 1997（右下）

來源
拍賣：北京保利國際拍賣，「情系災區，傾情奉獻 — 中國當代藝術家為地震災區捐獻作品義拍」，2008年5月29日，拍品編號13
現藏家得自上述來源

出版
《20世紀中國藝術史》，北京大學出版社，北京，中國，2009年，第965頁，彩圖

Ding Yi was a key member of the 85 New Wave Chinese contemporary art movement in the mid-1980s. In addition, he participated in the Venice Biennale in 1993 and the Biennale of Sydney in 1998. While artists from the same generation chose to convey their internal anguish and dissatisfaction through expressionism and surrealism, Ding Yi followed his artistic intuition and opted for an art form that is completely independent. In an era where a diversity of artistic styles were celebrated, Ding Yi was able to earn a unique position in Chinese contemporary art history with his ingenious abstract works that are supremely rational yet highly imaginative.

The Appearance of Crosses series was inspired by Ding Yi's working experience in package design in a factory. Crosses were used to confirm the correct colour assignment on a design draft. The artist explained, "In my artworks, I want to express myself through rationality and irony. So back [when creating the Appearance of Crosses series] I had a very clear idea: to make art that doesn't look like art. Therefore, I intended to make paintings that have no semblance of paintings; to make my paintings devoid of any meaning". The intersecting lines of crosses form a universal symbol. Yet, it is difficult for viewers to associate it with a concrete object in real life. In order to pursuit an absolute degree of rationality and abstraction, Ding Yi's choice of colour is completely random—he used whatever colours that were available to him.

Ding Yi began painting on checkered fabric in 1997 as a way to enhance the conceptual quality of his works. Appearance of Crosses:97-43 is based on a red Scottish tartan, on which the artist painted blue, orange, pink intersecting lines. Yellow crosses cover the entire fabric in an orderly fashion. Brushstrokes of varying intensity bring out an optical effect that is akin to shimmering stars against the bustling grid of a cityscape.

丁乙參與了1980年代中期中國的八五新潮藝術運動，更於1993年和1998年參與威尼斯和雪梨雙年展。不同於當時其他藝術家以表現主義或超現實主義表達內心的痛苦和苦悶，丁乙選擇忠於藝術家的直覺、保持自身的獨立性，以理性但充滿想像的抽象風格，在百花齊放的中國當代藝術中，獨樹一幟。

「十示」系列起源自丁乙過去在工廠設計包裝的經驗，十字符號是用於設計圖稿上確認套色的標示。丁乙曾說：「我希望用理性的方式，用諷刺性的方式來表達自己的創作。所以當時（創作《十示》系列時）我有非常明確的想法，一是要讓自己的藝術不像藝術，（所以）當時很明確要讓繪畫不像繪畫，讓繪畫沒有意義。」縱橫交錯的十字線，是一個普世的符號，很難讓人聯想到現實的、具體的事物。為了達到藝術家所追求，創作應該是理性且完全抽象的，丁乙不刻意安排畫面用色，而是手邊有什麼顏料，就畫什麼色調。

自1997年起，丁乙開始在格紋布上進行創作，這使其作品更具觀念性。《十示系列：97-43》即以紅色蘇格蘭紋成品布為基底，再以畫筆加上十字符號。透過藝術家的畫筆，藍色、橘色、粉色的線條相互交錯。黃色的十字符號井然有序的佈滿在畫布上，深淺不一的筆觸，使十字符號就像城市中的點點星光，在縱橫交錯的網格上閃耀著。