-- On April 24, 2026, at the Hushen Art Museum (SGA) at Three on the Bund in Shanghai, Chinese artist Ding Sher was interviewed by Qu Zihan, chairperson of China Rising Star Youth Charity Foundation, director of China Rising Star Art Museum, and producer and host of the television program Starlight Shanghai Harbour. Ding Sher’s solo exhibition Voir is being presented at SGA from March 20 to May 5, 2026, curated by Wang Yu and with academic hosting by Zhang Xiaoling, showcasing 38 painting and installation works created by the artist over the past six to seven years.
「Ding Sher: VOIR」
Origins–Voir: Nine Years of Waiting and a Reunion
“VOIR is, in essence, a re-examination of my art and of myself. The changes and reflections of these nine years are all embedded in the works. I hope that when viewers step into this space, they are not merely looking at paintings, but that they can truly see themselves anew.”
-Ding Sher
The concept of “VOIR,” as Ding Sher explained, originated from the single character “Guan” (to observe), which he later deconstructed into “VOIR” (to see again). This signifies both a re-encounter and a rediscovery of the world and the self. This exhibition marks Ding Sher’s first solo exhibition in nine years; his previous solo exhibition, titled Tangle: Ding Sher Art Exhibition, was held at the Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute Art Museum in 2017. The works featured in this exhibition span a creative period of six to seven years, with some pieces bearing dual creation dates - a result of the artist revisiting and deepening his conceptualization after completing initial drafts, using his creative trajectory to achieve a re-cognition of his own artistic practice. The curatorial vision, “to reacquaint oneself with the world and the self through a contemplative heart,”aptly captures the essence of nine years of creative accumulation and spiritual transformation.
Roots and Imprints: The Artistic DNA Forged by Military Service and Urban Memory
Ding Sher’s artistic DNA is deeply rooted in his military service and urban memories. During his early years in the air force unit stationed in Shanghai, aerial photography and operational mapping symbols - characterized by bird’s-eye perspectives and symbolic representation - became the genesis of his abstract visual language. During his military service, he frequently employed sharp geometric forms, such as triangles, emphasizing structure and a sense of strength. These have since evolved into a visual language of lines, giving rise to creation that returns in an ascending spiral. Having settled in Shanghai in 1991, he witnessed Pudong’s transformation from undeveloped land to prosperity. In this exhibition, the 7.5-meter-wide scaffolding installation serves as a concrete embodiment of urban memory - re-welded from discarded materials to awaken its inner tension. It functions both as a tribute to Shanghai’s urban builders and as an artistic dialogue with the city’s developmental journey. “When I came to Shanghai in 1991, none of the Pudong ‘three landmark towers’ existed yet. I have watched this city grow,” Ding Sher said during the interview. “Scaffolding once supported the city’s growth. By re-welding it, I aim to awaken its inner strength and pay tribute to those who built Shanghai.”
The Evolution of a Visual Language: From Dots to Lines, from Image to Stasis
“In the past, my work was centered on dots. Now I express myself directly through lines - dots connect to form lines, and lines compose surfaces, which is more structural and more powerful. This is not a simple regression; it is an ascending spiral. An artistic language is like an electrocardiogram - drawn unconsciously, it actually hides within it all of my experiences and reflections.”
- Ding Sher
This exhibition presents a pronounced transformation in Ding Sher’s creative language. On the level of painting, he has shifted from an earlier focus on the “dot” to interconnecting lines to form surfaces and construct structures. The lines exhibit both calligraphic quality and a sense of strength, resonating with the brushwork of Eastern calligraphy - a deep resonance between unconscious creation and life experience and spiritual contemplation. On the level of medium, he has completely abandoned his earlier predilection for video works, focusing instead on static painting and physical installations. In doing so, he reflects critically on the visual restlessness of rapidly evolving technology,aspiring instead to capture a “frozen power”. Many of his works are titled numerically based on their date of creation, embedding the fleeting, embodied experience of physical movement, rhythm of breath, and pressure of brushstroke onto the picture plane, thereby making time an intrinsic dimension of the work.
The Fivefold Gaze: Observing Phenomena–Observing the Realm–Observing the Mind–Purifying Seeing–Realizing Emptiness
The exhibition constructs a spiritual progression of successive inward deepening, moving from the external to the internal, from the material to the intangible - outlined in five stages: Observing Phenomena, gazing upon the surface of the world to extract historical memory and contemporary reflection, building a visual language that transcends boundaries; Observing the Realm, transforming spatial environment into an experiential realm - an installation of mirrored acrylic sheets suspended in the 38-meter-high atrium, using light refraction and spatial extension to orchestrate a visual dialogue between nature and cosmos, balancing technological sensibility with philosophical tension; Turning Inward, reaching into the self to reveal overlooked emotions and authentic memory; Purifying Seeing, stripping away complexity and excess to return to the essential nature of art; and Embracing Emptiness, transcending the boundaries of imagery, moving from seeing to seeing anew, ultimately arriving at a state of spaciousness and spiritual liberation. Ding Sher notes: “The Fivefold Gaze is a spiritual pathway - from observing the world, to perceiving space, to looking inward at oneself, to seeking purity, and finally to embracing emptiness. Art should not merely be an object of viewing; it should be a spiritual domain that can be entered, resonated with, and felt.”
VOIR will remain on view through May 5, 2026, at the Hushen Art Museum (SGA) at Three on the Bund in Shanghai.
Ding Sher
Born in December 1972, Linhai, Zhejiang Province; currently resides in Shanghai.
Graduate of the Oil Painting Department, College of Fine Arts, PLA Academy of Art.
Member of the Council, China Artists Association.
Resident Vice Chairman, Shanghai Artists Association.
Member of the Public Art Committee, China Artists Association.
Selected works are in the permanent collections of: G20 Summit (Hangzhou) Main Venue, BRICS Summit (Xiamen) Main Venue, China International Import Expo Main Venue, China National Pavilion VIP Lounge of Expo Shanghai, China Art Museum (Shanghai Art Museum), Liu Haisu Art Museum, Tsinghua University Art Museum, Macao Museum of Art, Bodleian Libraries of Oxford University, and others.Solo Exhibition：2019 Polarity - Ding Sher Exhibition in Venice, Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina, Venice, Italy.2017 Tangle - Ding Sher Art Exhibition, Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute Art Museum, Shanghai.
Contact Info:
Name: Yu Wang
Email: Send Email
Organization: Shanghai Shen Art Museum
Website: https://www.zgysyjy.org.cn/
Release ID: 89190141
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