Ever since he started drawing graffiti on the streets at age four, Walasse Ting has reflected his life into his works and transformed into the famously known “Flowers Theif”. The bright and colorful paintings narrate his legend; the bold and frank expression of his works is the style of how Ting faced his life.

Ting studied at “Shanghai Fine Art School” in the early years, yet Ting being vigorous and unrestrained, was unwilling to rigidly adhere to traditional academic teachings. Ting thus went to Paris and became close friends with the members of the “CoBrA.” Ting moved to New York City, U.S. in 1958, where he befriended many famous Abstract Expressionism and Pop artists, and developed the unique Walasse Ting style of his own. Integrating acrylic and color ink on india paper (Shiuan paper), and combining the beauty of the East and the West, Ting spent his whole life exploring the beauty expressed in the nudity of women. He was constantly in a pursuit for a new language for expression, while insisting on the same theme throughout his life, though insisting to be real to himself at the same time. Every woman shows a beauty of her own, and under the contrast of the parrots and the flowers presents a distinct bright layers of beauty. Ting said, “Before I paint I am a man, after I paint I am a woman.”Ting used his male strength to depict female softness; he abandoned secular binding, and revealed the true self in the blossom.

There was no standard for defining good and bad in the eyes of Ting, therefore he was not concerned with judgments and criticisms from others, he simply painted his life. He saw himself as a big tree blossom throughout the years; he did not flourish for the others to appreciate, it was the most nature thing to him to bloom, yet the flowers he nurtured gave the world more beautiful sceneries. His works are widely collected by Asian, American, and European collectors, as well as by internationally known art palaces such as MoMA, Chicago Art Institute, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Tate Gallery, and Musée Cernuschi, Paris.

Died in May 2010 in New York, U.S., Ting showed his love, passion, and strength to the world through his works. Ting once said “I’d die a happy ghost for the blossom beauty.” The love, hatred, and passion of Ting melted into the flowers on his paintings, leaving it to the audience to explore and reminisce.