Colorful and exuberant, this reclining nude portrait was composed by the noted contemporary Chinese-American painter Walasse Ting. Entitled Kiss Me, Kiss Me, the painting exemplifies Ting’s distinctive and highly expressive style marked by eye-popping color and animated brushstrokes. The artist is celebrated for his depictions of women, especially his nudes, exploring the human form through a unique mix of Pop Art and abstraction.

Born in Shanghai in 1929, Ting first explored his talent for art by painting on the sidewalks of his neighborhood as a child. He briefly studied at the Shanghai Art Academy but was largely self-taught. He left China for Paris in 1952, where he fell under the influence of the avant-garde collective CoBrA, who espoused a spontaneous, expressive approach to painting inspired by the art of children. After a few years in Paris, Ting relocated to New York City where he took inspiration from the works of the Abstract Expressionists and Pop Artists, and in 1970 he was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. Today, his works can be found in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.

Circa 1974