About

Freshness, vitality and brilliant color characterize Walasse Ting’s depictions of women, flowers, birds and animals executed in a powerful and highly individualistic style. His seductive, magical world is one of sensory pleasure, appealing to all those who share his passion for the beauty of the natural world.

Born in Wuxi, China in 1929, Ting studied briefly at the Shanghai Art Academy before leaving China in 1946 to come to Hong Kong, where he exhibited a few watercolors at a local bookstore. In 1950 he sailed for France, eventually arriving in Paris without money, friends or lodging. He lived as a poor struggling artist for six years, absorbing the city and for the first time being exposed to Western art, especially the Expressionist movement and the works of Picasso. An important influence was the Belgian artist, Pierre Alechinsky, who discovered Ting sleeping on bare boards in a tiny attic room and became his lifelong friend.

Ting arrived in New York in 1958 at the height of the Abstract Expressionist period. He befriended the American artist, Sam Francis, and the movement had a profound influence on his work. Unlike in Paris, Ting could paint and sell his work. Bold dripping strokes featured in his paintings, which at that time were mainly poetic abstractions in the manner of the Paris-based Chinese artist, Zao Wou-ki.

Only in the 1970s did Ting develop his now distinctive style using Chinese calligraphic brushstrokes to define outlines and filling flat areas of color with vivid acrylic paint. Later in live he lived in both New York and Amsterdam, but like Gauguin, he also often visits Tahiti in search of the exotic colors that were so central to his artistic practice. After suffering a severe brain haemorrhage in 2002 he was no longer able to continue his artistic career. After being moved from Amsterdam to New York in April 2010 Walasse Ting passed away at the age of 80.