In the history of art, the style of some artists has no relationship with the "trend" of their time. It is impossibly to find a way to sort them out. Because they, these artists, only belong to themselves.

Shanghai does not have schools of painters but has more individuals with their own character. The avant-garde artists try to avoid any resemblance to each other, and try to develop their own style. Among them Ding Yi is typical.

Ding Yi is very focused on his work. He has devoted all his time for six years to the development of the artworks which he calls "Appearance of Crosses".

"Appearance of Crosses" is a term used in color printmaking. It means that the coordinate exactness should be kept during the color process.

Right up to now, "Appearance of Crosses" is still Ding Yi's only series of work. He began this work in the year 1988. The style of that time is monotonous, accurate and dull: square patterns that give the viewers a first impression of perfectionism through repetitive and miscellaneous drawing. But the unmethodical choice of color and the tendency of non-aestheticism mock the artist's strenuous effort that is somewhat as certain as a religious experience. With a religious passion, Ding Yi reached the most perfect level of that time in about three years. In the summer of 1991 Ding Yi abandoned the ruler and adhesive tape and turned to direct and free-hand brushstrokes. Ding Yi discovered he could express his art not through superficial accuracy and correctness but through a more free style method that is enlightening and self-rebelling. At that point the meaning of "Appearance of Crosses" becomes more open. The proportion of the technical skill employed in the painting leads the previous rigid lattice structure to the casual and smooth form that brings along the chaotic, bounding and flashing visual quality. Within three years, the basic constituents inherent in the "Appearance of Crosses" changed from tidy to loose, positive to negative and some other changes. At the same time, Ding Yi tried various other materials in his work, such as acrylic, charcoal, pencil, watercolor, mark-pen, chalk and so on. Later on he even rejected having the canvas treated with the usual fixative glue. In these experiments of materials, Ding Yi found that the charcoal and chalk satisfied him the most. These two materials that exist between art and non-art can create the kind of "frontier field" that Ding Yi has been searching for. For this reason, Ding Yi, who can not be characterized as stereotypical becomes a "frontier figure".

The works of Ding Yi do not really reflect his surroundings. He lives his own life, listens to the melody, plays and performs unhurriedly on his canvas. Naturally he sometimes makes a change to his repetitive line and color. But that only means that he is thinking and acting in his own way. The change of visual language is only a superficial phenomenon. What matters most to him in his endless art journey that he creates a mixture of materials and spirit. In his recent works, the left-over powder after the charcoal and chalk's rubbing against the untreated background can be seen. The placement together of rough trace and foggy color present the great charm of the materials themselves. In comparison to these works, the pretentious character and traditional skill is becoming pale and weak. The pure act of seeing becomes an important and significant act. Maybe this is the implicit meaning of Ding Yi's work, that although crosses seem meaningless, the artwork shows them to be special.

The further the series of "Appearance of Crosses" develops, the less advice or references Ding Yi can take. The ultimate decisions he makes regarding his paintings are his own. This spring began to paint on some ready-made goods: fans and folding-screens. During the succession of the pictorial surface, the viewers can get a different impression in different positions, this change is really an accident in his painting experiments. But it should be noticed that the very new "visual-action" pattern emerging from the mixture of painting and materials still keep in line with the spirit of "Appearance of Crosses".

At this time Ding Yi's works will be published as a collection for the first time. I hope that as the prelude, my writing is an interpretation of Ding Yi's "Appearance of Crosses".