Tu-2

Disciplined, humble, intense, serious, creative, skilled, passionate, egocentric, playful, and paradoxically both open and guarded, Ying Ming Tu (Tu-2) is demanding of himself and others.

His visual style in his drawings, paintings, photography and cinematography is unique and impressive.
Tu has an amazing instinct with striking compositions and bold colors. He often chooses subjects with very humble beginnings, such as his parents, Mao, and the villagers he met in his travels to Guatemala and Tibet.

Tu-2 is culturally perceptive of the East and the West as he was born and raised in Taiwan, yet has lived, studied and worked in the U.S. for over twenty-five years. Many of his works have inspired juxtapositions, such as his Mickey Mao series, where his art comments on the influence of the West upon Chinese popular culture.

Tu’s strong spirituality is reflected in his portrait of the Dali Lama, in his delicately drawn portraits of his friends in Los Angeles, and in his works about meditation. He creates the feeling of the quiet of an athlete stretching, the glory of combat between two opposing soccer players, the long stride of a galloping horse, or the ecstasy of two lovers reaching their highest pleasures together.

Tu-2’s art is about connecting, seeing, re-visualizing, and reconsidering what you thought you knew. Emotional, demanding, thought provoking and mesmerizing, his art sets the highest standards and consistently delivers a sublime sensuality.

Bio written by Tu’s friend of 20 years, writer and filmmaker
Steven Rothblatt