A trip in and out of the jungle 1

World-traveling painter Walasse Ting (丁雄泉), 73, is still preaching his everlasting theme of romance, with his usual bright fluorescent colors and images of women and parrots. At his first solo exhibition in Taipei in six years, Ting brings 20 watercolor and acrylic on paper paintings.

Ting's paints elegant, long-haired women from his recollections of women he meets in daily life. The colorful parrots set with the women against a solid color background are Ting's own imaginative addition. Ting's artwork radiates exoticism, romance and wildness.

"Painting is like having a beautiful dream," says Ting, who often spontaneously paints through the night without sleep when inspiration hits him. The images of flamboyant birds or flowers on his canvasses are like colorful images from the dreams he would be having were he not painting.

Born in Shanghai, Ting moved to France in 1952 and since, has moved about and currently lives in Holland.

"Good paintings make you feel light, like a fine bottle of perfume, or a clear sunny day," says Ting. He says he hopes visitors to his exhibit at Taipei's Lungmen Art Gallery will feel the pleasant relief of entering a dreamscape upon viewing his canvasses.

Art Notes

What: Romancing Garden: Walasse Ting 2001 Taipei (花園裡的浪漫:丁雄泉2001台北)

Where: Lungmen Art Gallery (龍門畫廊), 2F, 2, Alley 150, Sec. 5, Hsinyi Rd., Taipei (台北市信義路5段150巷2號2樓)

When: Until June 9