Painting in painting

Ding’s attempts to synthesize the East with the West are best exemplified by his oil paintings with a Chinese flavour. This painting transports the viewer to a corner of his studio, where an easel and a picture are placed. The blue tiles of the floor and the orange walls form a remarkably strong contrast. On the easel, there is an oil painting of a cat in the style of what has come to be known as the ‘one-line drawing’, an art form Ding created in the latter part of his life. It is usually done in ink on Chinese xuan paper, but here it has appeared on the canvas of an oil painting. There are mysterious symbols in the picture, too: there is a stylised fish hanging on the easel. The calendar on the wall indicates “17”. At the lower left, there is a Chinese character in seal script, “yan”, meaning “goat”. These seemingly unrelated elements give a surreal touch to the painting, and represent Ding’s assimilation of iconic elements in his art. It can be interpreted in both Chinese and Western artistic terms, and therefore epitomizes his success in overcoming the differences between the two and finally coming into his own.