Born 1998 in Guangzhou, China and lives and works between London and Guangzhou, Ding Shilun harnesses his heritage, current events and a global history of art to create large and detailed pictorial works depicting the absurdity of daily life. His unique concurrence of the mythological, the historical and the everyday allow the emergence of an imaginary world with a representation of himself within our seemingly homogenous society.
Rooted in pictorial references such as Gustav Klimt or Kai Althoff intertwined with interpretations of Chinese literature—namely a collection of Chinese legends, translated as “In Search of the Supernatural,” written between 220–589 AD—Shilun’s characters inhabit imaginary worlds that serve as allegories for human experience and emotion. The precision of the details is used to contrast the different textures found in the paintings, sometimes resembling watercolor, as well as playing on a combination of co-existing perspectives, which question the distinction between real and surreal.
His recent solo shows include Invites: Ding Shilun at Zabludowicz Collection, London and Paradiso at Bernheim, Zurich. His works have been included in the permanent collections of ICA, Miami; The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Collection of Contemporary Art, Dallas; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou, China; Museu Inima De Paula, Belo Horionte, Brazil; Zabludowicz Collection, London; Asymmetry Art Foundation, London; Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, USA; and Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, USA; among others.
[excerpted from Bernheim website: www.bernheimgallery.com]