Ding Yi in Yunnan: The Road to Heaven

For his inaugural solo exhibition at Lisson Gallery and his first return to exhibit in London in over five years, renowned Chinese abstractionist Ding Yi presents The Road to Heaven a new body of work ahead of Frieze week. This latest series is deeply informed by the history and cosmology of the Naxi people of Yunnan in southwestern China, offering a rich cultural and conceptual dimension to his distinctive visual language. In line with his larger corpus, the artist’s latest drawings and paintings employ a systematic iconography in the service of a layered, subjective response – a continuous act of translation rather than a fixed text.

The Road to Heaven documentary by Pema Tashi follows Ding Yi’s journey through Yunnan in black and white, before blooming into full colour as it explores his artworks.

As Curatorial Director Greg Hilty writes in the catalogue Ding Yi: The Winding Path: "Yunnan is famous for being home to Dongba culture, representing the spirit and history of the Naxi people. Dongba culture is named after the Dongba, priests or ritualists (always men) who were and remain keepers and interpreters of the sacred texts, written in the form of pictorial glyphs. The Naxi are now highlighted as one of the acknowledged ethnic minorities respected within the PRC. Dongba culture is carefully preserved and studied, providing the basis (along with spectacular landscape and appealing climate) for significant internal tourism."

'Ding Yi: The Road to Heaven' is on view at Lisson Gallery London from 27 September – 1 November 2025.