Bring In The Flowers 1985

Walasse Ting made this painting, ‘Bring In The Flowers,’ with what looks like acrylic on paper. The blue backdrop is almost neon, and it's a flat expanse that makes the figures float on the surface. I'm thinking about the moment he made this, the swiftness of his brushstrokes. The paint application is fluid and spontaneous, imbuing the figures with a sense of immediacy and presence. I can imagine Ting wanted to capture fleeting moments of beauty and joy. Like a dance! Look at the way the colors bleed into each other, how he blends the yellow of the figures' clothes with pink and green. It's not just about the visual—it’s tactile. Ting is playing with transparency and opacity. You know, de Kooning did similar things with color. The way the color seems to blend with its opposite. The figures and flowers in the picture become part of a larger conversation about seeing, feeling, and painting. They evoke a sense of playful ambiguity which leaves space for interpretation. I see the work as both homage and departure, rooted in tradition yet forging its own path.