A leading artist of Chinese geometric abstraction, internationally recognized.

«The intuition that gave rise to the singular approach of Ding Yi was the choice to use a language composed of a few strokes, alternating and juxtaposed in repetitive patterns, to express synthetically his relationship with the world and with painting.

And it is perhaps this extraordinary intuition that has given him the ability and determination to continue on that path, which has become increasingly unique and recognizable over time». Monica Dematté

Ding Yi. Cross Galaxy is the result of an academic project that follows the homonymous solo exhibition by Ding Yi, presented at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art in 2023. The volume, edited by Yongwoo Lee and published by Marsilio Arte, presents a multidimensional study on Ding Yi’s forty years of artistic practice, explored from historical, critical and contextual perspectives.

Ding Yi (Shanghai, 1962), a pioneer of geometric abstraction in the history of contemporary Chinese art, is an artist known for his unique visual language based on the systematic use of graphic signs arranged according to repetitive and geometrical patterns, which act as a means of expression and communication.

His abstract art was born in the late eighties, a period that represents a spiritual and concrete dawn in the history of contemporary Chinese art, A vast laboratory from which have emerged multiple expressions of avant-garde and experimental art following the wave of reforms and policies of openness after the Cultural Revolution.

Ding Yi. Cross Galaxy collects conversations, reviews, comments and autobiographical stories about the art and life of Ding Yi, written by art theorists and curators who have closely followed his experimental and ambitious artistic path: Monica Dematté, Hou Hanru, Carol Yinghua Lu, Alexandra Munroe, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Karen Smith, Jonathan Watkins and Yongwoo Lee.

The texts analyze the artist’s work from different perspectives – historical, theoretical, aesthetic – highlighting the coherence and evolution of his pictorial language. The authors also reflect on Ding Yi’s historical position in contemporary Chinese and international art, exploring the influences that have shaped his work.

The volume also contains the contribution Works and Words, an autobiographical narrative in which the artist, through his works, chronologically retraces his own creative parable, from the eighties to today.

The volume is completed by a splendid illustrated biography of Ding Yi, edited by Carol Yinghua Lu, and a collection of short biographies of the authors.