Mourning Song affirms the grand form of Madonna’s divine suffering. The characters, expressions and movement bestow the painting with an internal sorrow, and the texture effect is an expressive technique unique to Ding Fang. In the cultural discussion of the 1980s, there was a tendency to revere Western Christianity, and Ding Fang conveniently linked his work to the “glory days of the Han and Tang dynasties with the tragic spirit of Christianity. 1987 was an important turning point in Ding Fang’s artistic career. He created the Sword-Shaped Willpower series and The Strength of Tragedy, gradually deviating from motifs of the Northwest Plateau as numerous Christian symbols began to appear in the latter series. Since then, Ding Fang has created a large number of works based on Christian themes.

Ding Fang continues to focus on the expression of spiritual and cultural themes, constantly examining contemporary spiritual issues. This kind of detailed investigation and hard thinking causes divine themes to emerge naturally in his work. These divine themes also call institutionalized and ossified materialism into question. In 1993, Ding Fang participated in the “post-89 Chinese New Art Exhibition” and continued producing The Song of the Earth and Mourning Song and Anthem series. At the same time, a challenging era of rapid change approached him. He further established the direction of “painting deeply concerned with spirituality”, imbued with the rich tones of sorrowful dirges and elegies. In this period of his work, a tragic atmosphere always revolves around a sacred halo.

(Edited by Lijie Wang & Miao Zijin)