Abstract with Bird 1960

Walasse Ting made this painting with ink and color on paper, and you can almost feel the energy of the brushstrokes. See how the marks seem so spontaneous, so alive? I can imagine Ting, brush in hand, dancing across the paper. I love the mix of deliberate strokes and wild scribbles. Look at that big splodge of black ink. It's bold, like a shadow, or some kind of abstraction of an animal, and around it, this vibrant bird emerges, a rainbow of blues and yellows and greens. The paint is applied in layers, a conversation between colors and shapes, like the artist is conjuring the image from the ether. And is it just me, or can you see echoes of other artists? Maybe a bit of Joan Miró, or even hints of traditional Chinese painting techniques? We are all students of one another in the studio of life. This painting is a reminder of the power of gesture, the magic that happens when we let go and let the paint speak for itself.