Appearance of Crosses 2019–20 (120 × 120 cm, mixed media on wood) continues Ding Yi’s Appearance of Crosses system, which he first established in 1988. In this ongoing series, the artist employs the most elementary symbols—“+” and “×”—as the sole compositional elements. From the very first Appearance of Crosses, Ding numbered his works to distance them from the expressionist and narrative styles prevalent at the time. He has long emphasized that abstraction should exist “between art and non-art,” using rulers, masking tape, and other tools to remove traces of the hand and construct a cool, rational order. Over nearly four decades, this visual language has evolved from grid-based compositions seen at eye level, to fluorescent aerial views of the city, to the monochromatic introspection of his black-and-white period—forming an abstract trajectory that bridges personal experience and social transformation.