World-traveling painter Walasse Ting (
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.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LUNGMEN ART GALLERY
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
PHOTO COURTESY OF LUNGMEN ART GALLERY
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
The Lee (李) family migrated to Taiwan in trickles many decades ago. Born in Myanmar, they are ethnically Chinese and their first language is Yunnanese, from China’s Yunnan Province. Today, they run a cozy little restaurant in Taipei’s student stomping ground, near National Taiwan University (NTU), serving up a daily pre-selected menu that pays homage to their blended Yunnan-Burmese heritage, where lemongrass and curry leaves sit beside century egg and pickled woodear mushrooms. Wu Yun (巫雲) is more akin to a family home that has set up tables and chairs and welcomed strangers to cozy up and share a meal
Dec. 8 to Dec. 14 Chang-Lee Te-ho (張李德和) had her father’s words etched into stone as her personal motto: “Even as a woman, you should master at least one art.” She went on to excel in seven — classical poetry, lyrical poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, chess and embroidery — and was also a respected educator, charity organizer and provincial assemblywoman. Among her many monikers was “Poetry Mother” (詩媽). While her father Lee Chao-yuan’s (李昭元) phrasing reflected the social norms of the 1890s, it was relatively progressive for the time. He personally taught Chang-Lee the Chinese classics until she entered public
President William Lai (賴清德) has proposed a NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special eight-year budget that intends to bolster Taiwan’s national defense, with a “T-Dome” plan to create “an unassailable Taiwan, safeguarded by innovation and technology” as its centerpiece. This is an interesting test for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and how they handle it will likely provide some answers as to where the party currently stands. Naturally, the Lai administration and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are for it, as are the Americans. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not. The interests and agendas of those three are clear, but
Last week writer Wei Lingling (魏玲靈) unloaded a remarkably conventional pro-China column in the Wall Street Journal (“From Bush’s Rebuke to Trump’s Whisper: Navigating a Geopolitical Flashpoint,” Dec 2, 2025). Wei alleged that in a phone call, US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi not to provoke the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over Taiwan. Wei’s claim was categorically denied by Japanese government sources. Trump’s call to Takaichi, Wei said, was just like the moment in 2003 when former US president George Bush stood next to former Chinese premier Wen Jia-bao (溫家寶) and criticized former president Chen
RSS