Alisan Fine Arts is proud to present a major show of world-renowned Chinese New York-based artist Walasse Ting (1928 - 2010) at Hong Kong Arts Centre, the Pao Galleries 5/F, from 16 to 22 November 2010. The last time Ting held a solo exhibition at Hong Kong Arts Center was in 1993, 17 years ago. This upcoming exhibition will consist of 35 pieces of works in Chinese ink & acrylic on paper and Chinese ink on paper from the 1980s, 1990s to 2001, providing an overview of Ting's famous subjects: alluring ladies, bright pink flowers, yellow birds, colourful fish, cats, horses, and florescent green landscape which reflect his joy of life, love, and beauty. An opening ceremony will be held on 16 November 2010, 6:00-7:30pm. Important guests include Walasse Ting's daughter and son, Ms Mia Ting and Mr Jesse Ting who are coming all the way from New York to attend the opening of our exhibition. Other guests include Mrs Cissy Pao Watari, BBS (Chairman, Board of Governors, Hong Kong Arts Centre) and the director of Alisan Fine Arts gallery, Mrs Alice King. Mrs Watari befriended Walasse Ting during her stay in New York as she is also a painter. Following this exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the paintings will be shown at Alisan Fine Arts gallery (at Rm 2305 Hing Wai Centre, No.7 Tin Wan Praya Road, Aberdeen) until 31 December 2010. During this time, a Retrospective will also be held at the Taipei Fine Art Museum in Taiwan from 27 November 2010.

Walasse Ting was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province in China in 1928, and was raised in Shanghai. By his own admission, he began painting on sidewalks as a child. He attended the Shanghai Art Academy briefly, but always considered himself to be a self-taught artist. In 1952 he moved to Paris, where he formed close friendships with various members of the CoBrA group. Six years later, Ting immigrated to New York, where he became involved with the Abstract Expressionists and Pop Artists, befriended Sam Francis (1923-1994, Abstract Expressionist) and exhibited with Andy Warhol (1928-1987) a leading figure in Pop Art. Despite these close relationships, Ting never considered himself to be a part of any artistic movement or group. In 1964 he published a book of his poems entitled "One Cent Life" with Sam Francis as editor, illustrated with original lithography by numerous American and European artists including Andy Warhol, Sam Francis, Antonio Saura (1930-1998, Spanish artist), Pierre Alechinsky (born 1927, Belgian artist) and Karel Appel (1921-2006, Dutch artist). In 1977 Ting was awarded a fellowship for drawing from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

Upon moving to America, Ting painted with many media new to him: oil, acrylic and pastel as well as Chinese ink. His earliest works were mostly abstractions, in black and white oil, until the1960s when he began using decidedly western colours, bright hues and fluorescents. His brushstroke retained the feeling of Chinese calligraphy even with its splatters and splashes. His fusion of East and West manifested into his later figurative work, where traditional Chinese ink on rice paper was coloured with an expansive palette of bright colours.

Ting has had more than 60 solos exhibitions in major art galleries and museums around the world, including New York, Paris, Zurich, Brussels, Amsterdam, Munich, Copenhagen, Vienna, Milan, Taipei, Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Alisan Fine Arts first organised a solo exhibition of Ting's works in 1986, then in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2010, totalling eleven shows. Alisan Fine Arts has also brought him to Singapore Art Fair "Tresor" in 1994, Shanghai Art Museum in 1997, the 3rd Shanghai Ink Biennale at Zhu Qizhan Art Museum in Shanghai in 2007, Hong Kong International Art & Antiques Fair in 2009 and Hong Kong International Art Fair in 2010. His works are in the permanent collections of many museums and public collections throughout the world including Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Chicago Art Institute; Detroit Institute of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Tate Gallery, London; Musée Cernuschi, Paris; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan, Hong Kong Museum of Art and Shanghai Art Museum.

Sadly Walasse Ting passed away on May 17, 2010 in New York. The art world will sorely miss Walasse and his distinctively cheerful paintings!

Of Ting's unique style, Fang Zhaoling (1914-2006, Hong Kong woman artist) commented: "Ting combines two schools of paintings in his works. His women painted in bright, vivid colours come from Western tradition while his landscapes, figures and horses are influenced by Chinese paintings. Whatever subject he chooses to paint, his style is bold, powerful, original and individualistic."

*Much of the material in this press release is taken from a piece by Walasse Ting's daughter, Mia Ting who will be coming from New York to be the guest of honour at the exhibition opening.