Legendary Chinese-American artist Walasse Ting is not dead, says his best friend and renowned Amsterdam art dealer Nico Delaive, “though he is living in a way that (means) he might rather not stay alive”.

After suffering from a severe brain hemorrhage in 2002, Ting was diagnosed as clinically brain-dead. According to Delaive, Ting is currently being nursed in a private home in Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam. “I haven’t seen him for 3 years,” Delaive told RNW, “Nobody is allowed to visit him. His children in America filed a restraining order against all his friends here.” 

The truth
13 October was Walasse Ting’s 80th birthday. Nico Delaive marked the occasion with an exhibition of Ting’s paintings from his own collection in the Delaive Gallery, Amsterdam. However, Delaive admits that his real motivation was to call attention to Ting’s present state. “Many believe he is retired; some even say he is dead. But he is alive, although he had said in the past, if one day he couldn’t paint anymore, he would rather die. The fact is he is not dead yet. And people should know the truth about his real situation!”

Master of life and art
Ting’s journey from his birthplace in Shanghai to a nursing home in the Netherlands was full of incident. Known for his colorful paintings featuring nude women and flowers, Walasse Ting is famous not only for art, but also his unconventional and dissolute lifestyle. Painting, food and women are the core and the meaning of his life.

Ting traveled to Paris when he was just 17. After struggling to establish himself there for six years, he moved to New York where he became part of the burgeoning Pop Art scene. He became friends with famous American artists such as Andy Warhol and Sam Francis. In 1964 he and Sam Francis published the legendary book “1 Cent Life”. With 68 original colored lithographs from artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Karel Appel, Andy Warhol and of course Ting himself, it’s an indispensable reference to the art of the time. 

The gloomy twilight of a great artist
Ting obtained American nationality in the early 1970s, but began spending more and more time in the Netherlands before moving to Amsterdam permanently in 2000. Nico Delaive and Walasse Ting became friends after a chance meeting on the street.  Delaive claims an artist who loved life and art as much as Ting would never want to stay alive as he is now.

“Once he told me, he couldn’t paint colour without sex. Before sex he paints with black and white; after sex, it’s like his life has been lit up. And food, I have never seen anyone enjoy great food as much as he did. And now the nurse has to push food into his mouth, and the woman he had loved and lived with for 18 years is not allowed to be there with him. I can’t imagine he would like to live in this way.”

No one can help
Delavie says Ting’s doctor has told the artist’s children there is no chance he will recover. Under Dutch law, this means the family could opt for euthanasia. However, the family insist he be kept alive. Delavie said, “I have gone through the American embassy and all related organisations. They all said that because he was American, Dutch law could not apply to him. I have no idea why they want to keep him alive like this and totally ignore his existence. I want the whole world to know: Walasse Ting is alive! But the way he lives is simply inhuman!”