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Wei Ding
Love No. 6
Oil on canvas
2018
110 x 90 cm
Vanities: Prosperous-Anemone
Oil on canvas
2018
110 x 90 cm
Love No. 6 is finished in pure white color. The center is a noose woven from thorns. The interior of the noose is done in impasto. The thorns allude to Jesus. The death of Jesus testifies to the true state of his humanity, and I am trying to stress this point. I consider that only through Jesus can we reach and enter the other world.
In Vanities: Prosperous-Anemone, luxuries inlaid with jewels are woven into a noose shape, with bright colors inside impasto while the surrounding background is painted thinly using a free dripping method. The instinct of the human body is to obtain materialistic things from the world to satisfy the needs of itself. I try to represent and affirm this commonsense reality. I consider it necessary to explore spiritual happiness from material happiness.
—Wei Ding
Wei Ding’s two works are part of his Noose Series, a theme—a motif—he has been exploring for many years. While Love No. 6 refers to the sacrificial love of Christ, Vanities: Prosperous—Anemone is a poignant representation of the insidiousness of materialism and prosperity that promises so much but comes with a very big price tag. The seductive beauty of the bejeweled necklace of flowers is a noose that will strangle our very selves, rendering us lifeless in the most profound sense.
About the Artist
Wei Ding, born in 1978 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, received his bachelor’s degree from Shandong Arts Institute in 2001. In 2009, he received his master’s degree from the School of Art of Qufu Normal University, Shandong Province. From September 2013 to July 2014, Wei Ding studied as a visiting scholar in Professor Sui Jianguo’s workshop in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He is currently a faculty member in the School of Art of Qufu Normal University and lives in Rizhao, Shandong Province.