Between Prediction and Retrospection is a survey exhibition of works by Ding Yi, a leading figure in Chinese geometric abstraction, featuring works on canvas, wood and paper, created over the last forty years.

Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and Western aesthetics, the exhibition presents both experimental, process-based and traditional approaches to contemporary painting. During his long career, Ding has applied such methodology in his studio practice to explore personal and societal cross-cultural perspectives in relation to fast-paced technological development, urban environment and human culture in general.

The ‘predictive’ element referred to in the title underscores the use of the cross sign, whether a ‘+’ or an ‘x’, as an emblematic gesture and mark. Ding’s practice not only links Western and Eastern formal aesthetic approaches but prefigures the ‘absolute matrix’ of the binary code, one of today’s most prominent visual tropes, now largely seen in the supercharged development of the digital realm.

The ‘retrospective’ aspect is seen in the selection of works from the 1980s to the present, a time span that has seen dramatic societal development such as the fall of Soviet Communism, the decline of the American dream, and the rise of China and the Southeast

Asia region. Ding’s work, in its integrity and motif-based approach, provides a lens through which the results of such consequential events can be read.

The exhibition unveils Ding Yi’s mastery in navigating the intersections of tradition and innovation, providing a transcendent journey through a labyrinth of visual language, where every brushstroke resonates.

The exhibition was curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, former Director, Mostyn, and Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza, Curator of Visual Arts, Mostyn, and is kindly supported by Timothy Taylor, London.