Walasse Ting was born in Shanghai, China in 1929. In 1953 Walasse moved to Paris where he met contemporary artists such as Pierre Alechinsky, Asger Jorn and Karel Appel. While in Paris he also became affiliated with the artistic group COBRA, which was formed by Appel, Jorn and others to promote the avant-garde art movement. In 1963 he left Paris and resettled in New York City, and there he met other artists such as Sam Francis, Tom Wesselman and Claes Oldenberg. During the 1960s, Walasse's style developed from one of expressionism to pop-art, often depicting nude women painted in bright, vibrant color schemes. In 1970 Walasse won the Guggenheim Fellowship Award for drawing.

He shared a studio with Vivian Springford, and they had a clear influence on each other’s work.

He is the author of thirteen books, including All in My Head (1974), and his most celebrated work, One Cent Life (1964), which contains 62 original lithographs made by 28 European and American artists, with 62 poems by Walasse Ting set in multi-colored inks. The 172-page collection was written by Walasse Ting and edited by Sam Francis. Among the more notable lithographs in the book include work by Walasse Ting, Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Joan Mitchell, and Andy Warhol. The book is considered a visual manifesto of 1960s culture.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ting divided his time between Amsterdam and New York. After a long struggle with a brain injury, Walasse Ting died in NewYork in 2010.

His work can be found in permanent international collections such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate Modern Museum in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

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