Acrylic on paper

24.5 x 39 cm.9 5/8 x 15 3/8 in.

Stamped with artist’s seal on lower right

PROVENANCE Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Sale，Ravenel，Taipei，1 June 2014，Lot 106，

Acquired from the above auction by the present owner.

WALASSE TING 1929-2010

In 1929，Walasse Ting was born in a wealthy merchant family in Wuxi and spent his childhood in Shanghai. It was said that he started random graffiti on the road side at the age of 4，creating art works on the short wall on the street at the age of 10，and the process of painting pleased him and filled him with sense of achievement. Later，Walasse Ting went to study in Shanghai Training School of Fine Arts. Nonetheless his inborn painting talent and enthusiasm for freedom prevented him from adapting the restriction of academic education. Particularly after he has red I-Ching，he decided to start his life journey. In 1946，he abandoned the formal art education and went to Hong Kong alone. Later he took the vessel to Paris in 1952 and became an artist wandering in a foreign county. The wild and undisciplined personality of him at youth prevented Walasse Ting from receiving complete academic training. Nonetheless he received the complete immersion of modern arts in Western World after traveling overseas.

After he moved to Paris in 1952，Walasse Ting met the COBRA Group and became good friends with Belgium artist Piere Alechinsky，Danish artist Asger Jorn，Dutch artist Karel Appel with establishment of profound friendship. COBRA Group advocates the spontaneity and nature of painting，which greatly inspired Walasse Ting，allowing the dazed and confused artist to find a place for settlement. Soon he discovered his creation direction in Paris and finally developed the abstract ink painting with oriental artistic style.

In 1958 Walasse Ting went to the art community in New York from Paris and was acquainted with American Abstract Expressionism artist Sam Francis，Tom Wesselmann of Pop Art and Claes Oldenburg. He observed the brilliance of New York so he changed his abstract ink painting style from Paris into a “Pop Art” artist using vibrant colors. In addition to the existing ink lines，Ting added dripping and spilling，switching mono-color into vibrant colors gradually. He changed his style from abstract to semi-abstract，constantly searching for a new language that fits personal visual tension. It was until the end of the 1970s he finally followed his heart and successfully created the color ink painting on rice paper from the 1980s to the last 25 years of his life. He also revisited the hidden world of Chinese Literati inside him since youth，drawing a perfect end to his solitary life of arts.

Walasse Ting’ works combine color，lines，rice paper，and ink painting interwoven into “One integration of West and Orient，” which also became the classics in the history of arts. He used rice paper as material infused with acrylic color and ink painting to add dripping and spilling techniques on existing ink painting lines，while truthfully balancing between oriental and wester arts. His painting shows the influence of action painting，Jackson Pollock，while perceiving the characteristics of Bada Shanren’s brushing. In addition，the strong signs of decoration from bright and colorful acrylic colors imply the impact of Pop Art.

“Kiss me，I’m white Rose” was created in 1975 when Ting was travelling among U.S.，Europe and Asia intensely. He held solo exhibitions in the Birth gallery in Copenhagen，Denmark，Nor Randers gallery，National Museum of History in Taipei，Kornfeld and Klipstein in Switzerland，and many other galleries. He has been prominent in the western and oriental painting communities with considerable brilliance. This work was created in Denmark，a typical painting by Walasse Ting with classic “Pop Art”. The vibrant acrylic colors outline a hot and sexy naked woman accompanied by dazzling blossoming flowers. Walasse Ting addressed himself as the “thief of flower” by painting the fragrance of beautiful flowers，pleasure of passion for sex and the tendering of female body with undisguised rich colors for expression. The work is filled with sensory pleasure. Nonetheless such seductive “lust” is a clear and elegant world rather than full of desire. His painting acts as a narrow，long and transparent feather that tickles the passion of the viewer with gradual emission of charms.

His work，“Beauty Woman and Red Horse，” is also a typical Ting’s style，where an oriental beauty and a horse is a common combination in many of his themes. The pink color is filled with sensory joy，which seems to indicate a seductive and lustful world that attracts people with passion and desire. Everyone can perceive a strong visual shock before his painting and will soon enter a romantic and fantasy art construction，thereby profoundly attracted by the most enthusiastic and lightest oriental and western romance.

The work，“Lady in Pink” was created in approximately 1980 when Ting’s color ink painting has been fully developed. The hot beauty of this work differs from the pop art style of the 70s but is more inclined toward the traditional Chinese lady. Nonetheless this lady is unconventional，free，sexy，and gorgeous，without the look of a classic lady but is posed as another “pretentious” image. “Lady in Pink” by Ting suggests his fluent artistic language in expressing with extreme personality，combining the abstract expressionism of Henri Matisse，the lines and decoration of Bada Shanren，accompanied by color use filled with desire and energy from Ting to sincerely and directly expose the playful attitude of “thief of flower” and “Play boy.” The painting exhibits the vibrant creativity and vitality of an artist while emitting the rare indulgence of joy in Chinese artists.

Price estimate:
HKD：50,000 - 60,000
USD：6,450 - 7,700

Auction Result:
HKD : 59,000