An exhibition at Hong Kong Museum of Art entitled No Frontiers: The Art of Ding Yanyong celebrates the efforts by the late artist, who lived from 1902-1978, to blend East and West in his works.Heavily influenced by Fauvism in his early days, Ding's works in the 1920s are marked by vigorous lines and lucid colors.
He later returned to his roots for inspiration. In doing so, Ding attempted to synthesize elements of ancient Chinese art with those of modern Western surrealism and abstractionism.
These efforts show through in his oil paintings of characters from the Chinese opera Farewell To My Concubine.
Following the communist takeover in 1949, Ding left his family behind in Guangdong to move to Hong Kong.
In relative loneliness, Ding sought solace in the past and found a kindred spirit in the ink works of Bada Shanren, a Ming dynasty royal descendant who became a monk during the Qing period and achieved immortality through his works of solitude.
Ding's straitened circumstances during this period are marked by canvases in which he painted one work over another. Triumph came when Ding was invited to join New Asia College, now part of the Chinese University, in 1957 to help launch its fine arts program.
The artist delights with a sense of humor and childlikeness. Unlike Bada Shanren, Ding gives his fishes, cats, egrets, cranes and mandarin ducks big eyes that often roll in contempt, staring in anger or looking sideways in disinterest. Frogs, characterized by bi
g eyes and mouths portrayed with just a few strokes and dark dots, were his specialty.Legends also proved a source of inspiration, with Zhong Kui, for example, showing the vanquisher of ghosts moving ethereally in the spirit world. In Figures from the Three Realms, he juxtaposed mythical characters with common people for comic effect.
In his later years, Ding focused on calligraphy and seal carving. Transcending genre and subject, Ding turned the traditional seal script into paintings of animals and people under his carving knife.
Referred to first as a "Matisse of the Orient" and seen later as a modern Bada Shanren, Ding formulated an original and innovative style based on his creative interplay of diverse media.
Date: Until April 5
Time: 10am to 6pm
Venue: Hong Kong Museum of Art
Admission: HK$10 (free on Wednesdays)
Inquiry: 2721-0116
