Abstract with Bird 1960

Walasse Ting made this abstract piece with a bird, using what looks like crayon and ink. There is a real sense of immediacy in his mark making, of pleasure in the process. I love the way he's scratched into that big splodge of black ink, almost like he's trying to find a hidden image in the dark. Then there's the bird itself, a riot of colour, with these scribbled crayon marks that somehow, magically, coalesce into a recognizable form. Ting's use of color is so bold and uninhibited, reminding me a bit of Joan Miró. But where Miró's work is often more refined, Ting's feels raw, like a child's drawing, full of joy and spontaneity. It's this tension between abstraction and representation, chaos and order, that makes the piece so compelling. Art doesn't have to be about answers, but about embracing the questions.