The years between 1988 and 1991 are often referred to as the “period of technical precision” of DING Yi’s artistic creation, when his works were highly characterized by a “diplomatic language”. In order to ensure the greatest precision in his lines and colors, the artist made use of a ruler, tape, as well as a drafting pen. The completion of each artpiece thus resembled to the working process of a cartographer. DING Yi forcefully controlled the pictorial effect of the painted canvas, making his paintings as precise as printed works, clearing away any possible stray traces left on the canvas. Given the demands of such a precise manner of creation, the burden of this intense work is hard to imagine. After more than four years of experimentation during this early period, the question of whether the language of rational art that DING Yi emphasized would be able to aid in giving greatest expression to spiritualism quickly confronted him. Therefore, he abandoned the extreme technical precision in his canvas, putting aside his working tools and bidding farewell to the harsh, cold colors and the rigid lines that he had been employing. He decided instead to only use his hands to create paintings, entering a new phrase which is also known as colloquialized period.
Detail pictures:
