1964

WALASSE TING (1929-) China / USA

“ONE CENT LIFE” 1964

68 Original Pop-Art & Cobra Graphics
Limited edition of 2000 copies, Elephant Folio, 176 pages
Edited by Sam Francis (1923-1994)
Published by E.W. Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland

Dimensions:
Book: H: 16 3/8” x W: 12”
Custom leather box: H: 18 1/16” x W: 13” x D: 2 7/16”
Custom silk slipcase” H: 19 1/8” x W: 13 7/8” x D: 3 3/16”

Artists that contributed original graphic work illustrating Walasse Ting’s poetry for this volume include: Pierre Alechinsky (5), Karel Appel (5), Enrico Baj (2), Alan Davie (3), Jim Dine (2), Sam Francis (6), Robert Indiana (2), Alfred Jensen (3), Asger Jorn (2), Allan Kaprow, Alfred Leslie (2), Roy Lichtenstein (2 + cover), Joan Mitchell, Claes Oldenburg (3), Mel Ramos (2), Robert Rauschenberg (2), James Rosenquist, Bram Van Velde, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselman (2).

Walasse Ting, born in Shanghai, is a self-taught painter, sculptor, graphic artist and poet. Leaving China in 1949 to travel, he reached Paris in 1953 and became acquainted with artists Karel Appel, Asger Jorn and Pierre Alechinsky, members of the avant-garde group known as COBRA. Since 1963, he has lived in New York.

“Ting wanted to publish the most international illustrated book, intended to illustrate his text, uniting tachisme, neo-dadaisme, pop art, and all other artistic movements. The idea was born from global experience, close contact with culture, pseudo-culture, primitive existential worries, urban erotic and eastern wisdom.. It was a Herculean task, for which only a Chinese would have been able to muster the perseverance” – E. W. Kornfeld.