Appearance of Crosses

Ding Yi

Inspired by the Zen practice of calligraphy, painter Ding Yi is a pioneer of abstraction in China, completely rejecting narrative and representation in his practice. He creates colorful, abstract geometric works through an exacting process: each painting comprises countless individually painted crosses—usually painted on plaid fabric—whose minimalist look belies the maximal effort and consciousness of his otherwise intuitive process. "What I want most is for every piece to have some freedom," he says. "So I will allow some things to happen by chance."