Chinese rock star fuses visual and audible art

Former vocalist of Chinese rock band Tang Dynasty hosts an exhibition of around 50 paintings inspired by his own music creations, Chen Nan reports.

Ding Wu is sitting in the middle of his own exhibition at the headquarters of Modern Sky, the biggest indie music label in China, surrounded by about 50 paintings which he created over the past few years.

Among the paintings are seven works finished in the past year that were inspired by seven songs he wrote, produced and performed.

The combination of these paintings and songs now represent his first project, titled One Moment, as a solo artist with Modern Sky.

Each of the seven songs shares the same title with the paintings, including Two-Sidedness, April and Lottery Ticket.

"It's all a little overwhelming," says Ding. "I didn't know if the paintings and the songs were ready to be released. When they are actually here and open to the audience, I feel nervous and excited. It's a professional and personal milestone for me."

One of the most famous rock musicians in the country, the 55-year-old first rose to fame as the vocalist of Chinese rock band Tang Dynasty in 1988. He co-founded the band with Chinese-American musician Kaiser Kuo and bassist Zhang Ju, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1995.

In 1991, the band released their first album, A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty, to critical acclaim, selling around 2 million copies in China and catapulting Ding to stardom. Their second album, Epic, which was released in 1998, and the third, Knight of Romance, released 10 years later, cemented their place in the history of Chinese rock music.