Fay Ming
Introduction
Ming Fay is a Shanghai-born and New York-based sculptor, installation artist and professor. His work focuses on the concept of the garden as a symbol of utopia and the relationship between people and nature. Today he is well known for his large fruit sculptures and mixed media installations. His whimsical yet culturally poignant sculptures are made out of bronze or papier-mâché and often presented in a highly sophisticated way. Born in 1943 into a family of artists, he immigrated to Hong Kong in 1952 where he completed his secondary education. In 1961, the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio awarded him a full scholarship to study design. After graduating in 1965, he worked in a design studio before he discovered his true passion, sculpture. He obtained a BFA degree in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1967 and a MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1970. Since then he has resided in New York and devoted himself to his sculptural work. Throughout his career Fay has been an active teacher and has taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic, Columbus College of Art and Design, Pratt Institute, the William Paterson College, and University of Pittsburgh. In 2007 he was the recipient of the NYFA fellowship in Sculpture. Fay is a member on the board of Directors of the Alternative Museum, The Chinese American Arts Council, The Chinese Information and Culture Center, and the overseas Chinese Renaissance Society.
He has completed numerous public art commissions including a suspended glass and steel sculpture for a residential lobby in Philadelphia, a large-scale tree sculpture in Puerto Rico, sculptural benches for New York City Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
Alisan Fine Arts began representing Fay in 1985, and since then has held three solo exhibitions for the artist. He was included in New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond held at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 2008 and curated by Alice King. Fay has exhibited internationally and his works have been displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Academy Museum, New York; Łódź Biennale, Poland; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong. His works are in the collections of many prominent museums including the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey; He Xiangling Art Museum, Shenzhen; Taiwan Fine Art Museum; Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2010- Out of Jungle: Two decades of Studio Doodads 1990 to 2010, Chinese American Arts Council, NYC, USA
- Floating Reeds: An installation by Ming Fay, Shanghai MOCA, Shanghai, China
- Ramapo Garden of Desire, Kresge Gallery, Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA
- Ming Fay – From Concept to Reality, Cuchifritos, NYC, USA
- Money Tree & Monkey Pots, Montalvo Gallery, Saratoga, CA, USA
- Floating Botanica, Copia, Napa, California, USA
- Hidden Seed Garden, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
2000
- Qian and Bao, Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA
- Garden of Qian, Whitney Museum at Phillip Morris, NYC, USA
1997
- Lings, Bulova Corporate Center of the Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, USA
- Earthly Delights, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NYC, USA
- Veins of the Spiral, Kim Foster Gallery, NYC, USA
- Feast for the Eyes, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA
- Midnight Porridge, Broadway Windows, NYC, USA
- Monkey Pots New Species from Ming Fays Lab, Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA
1994
- Matter into Spirit, Kim Foster Gallery, NYC, USA
- Extended Curves, Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA
- From the Garden, Alisan Fine Art, Hong Kong
1993
- On the Edge, Keen Gallery, NYC, USA
- Existential Attainment, Lungmen Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
- Images from Beyond, Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA
- Nature Reborn: From Archaeology to Science Fiction, Exit Art, NYC, USA
- Bell Sprouts, Petrosino Park, New York City (Outdoor Installation)
- Objects from Nature, Chinese American Arts Council, NYC, USA
- Journey into Nature, Squibb Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Ming Fay, Gallery Triform, Taipei, Taiwan
- Elixirs, Alternative Museum, NYC, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
- Art Across Archive: Postcards from Chinatown, Think!Chinatown Community Art Space, New York, US
2008
- Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue, Exhibition Series II- New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond & symposium, curated by Mrs Alice King, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
- Back to the Garden, Daily Life to Spiritual Vision, Crossing Art Gallery, NYC, US
- Shenzhen Ink Biennale, He Xiangling Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Transplant Transculture, Wave Hill, Bronx, NYC, US
- Transplanted, Kean University, Union, NJ, US
- New Chinese Occidentalism, Ethan Cohen Gallery, NYC, US
- Neutral, Lab Gallery, NYC, US
- Laumeier Scupture Park, St.Louis, MO:Material Terrain, US
- Lodz Biennale, International Artist Museum, Lodz, Poland
- The 179 th Annual, National Academy Museum, NYC, US
- Crosscurrents in the Mainstream, Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, US
- Metamorphosis, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI, US
- Food Matters, Katonah Museum of Art, NYC, US
- Serene Beauty, Jamaica Art Center, Jamaica, NYC, US
- To Scale, The Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC, US
- All Terrain, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA, US
2000
- Environmentally Concerned 2, Bronx River Art Center and Gallery, Bronx, NYC, US
- Environmentally Concerned, Nathan Cummings Foundation, NYC, US
- Art Nature/Nuture, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI, US
- The End, Exit Art, NYC, US
- Persistence: Botanica, Butters Gallery, Portland Oregon, US
- Art Underfoot: Manhole Covers in NYC, The Urban Center, NYC, US
- Six Degrees of Seduction, Central Fine Arts, NYC, US
- As far as the eye can see, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, US
- Metaphors: Inspirations and Folklores, Henry Street Settlement, NYC, US
- Paper: the State of Connection, Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah, Wisconsin, US
- Sculpture, Leedy Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri, US
- 1997 Biennial Exhibition of Public Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY, US
- Ancient Emblems, Contemporary Signifiers, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, US
- Gardens of Urban Delight: The Lower East Side, Henry Street Settlement, NYC, US
- Posing Reality: Contemporary Still Life, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, US
- Black and White: Sculptors' Drawings, Marymount Manhattan College, NYC, US
- Mutation of Ink and Paper, Taipei Gallery, NYC, US
- Bodies/Transformations: Small Bronzes, TZ Art & Co., NYC, US
- Elusive Source, Corcoran Gallery of Art, WashingtonDC, US
- Undetermined Origins, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD, US
- Workspace Program: 5 Years, Gallery at Dieu Donne Papermill, NYC, US
- Totems & other structures, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA, US
- Visionary Proposals for Lower East Side, Henry Street Settlement, NYC, US
- Art for Learning, Municipal Art Society, NYC, US
- Fabricate Nature, Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho, US
- Orientations, David Adamson Gallery, WashingtonDC, US
- The Garden of Sculptural Delights, Exit Art, NYC, US
- Plant Body: Spiritual Botany, Cavin-Morris Gallery, NYC, US
- Spring/Summer Exhibition, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ, US
- Diverse Disclosures, Kenkeleba Gallery, NYC, US
- Artists of Conscience, Alternative Museum, NYC, US
- Still Life Today, Scott Alan Gallery, NYC, US
- Bronze, Frumkin/Adams Gallery, NYC, US
- Group Exhibition, Nancy Drysdale Gallery, Washington DC, US
- The Hybrid State, Exit Art, NYC, US
- Selections, Artist Space, NYC, US
- Harvest 2001, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ, US
- Journey into Nature, Squibb Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey, US
- Ming Fay, Gallery Triform, Taipei, Taiwan
- Elixirs, Alternative Museum, NYC, US
- Ming Fay, Hong Kong Institute for Promotion of Chinese Culture, Hong Kong
- Drawings for Sculpture, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- Ming Fay, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, US
- Ming Fay, Broadway Windows, NYC, US
Selected Art Awards
2005 Redevelopment Authority, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2003 Department of Transportation and Public Works, Yauco, Puerto Rico
2002 Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon
1999 MTA, Delancey/Essex Streets Station, NYC
Economic Development Corp of NY, Flushing Queens
1998 GSA, US Court House, Seattle, Washington
Percent for Art, Staten Island Ferry Terminal, NYC
1997 Public Art Fund, Phipps Housing, Bronx, NY
1993 Percent for Art, Criminal Justice Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1990 Percent for Art, P.S. 7, Elmhurst, NY
Selected Public Art Commissions
Whitehall Ferry Terminal, NYC Percent for Art, Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC
United States Courthouse, Seattle, Washington, General Services Administration
Delancey/Essex Station, NYC, Metropolitan Transit Authority, NYC
Lippman Plaza, Flushing, Queens, NYC
Economic Development Corporation of New York
He Xiangling Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
Howard Plaza Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
Conrad Hilton, Hong Kong
Selected Public Collections
Jan Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Phipps House, Daly Avenue Apartments, Bronx, New York
Mobil Oil Corporation, New York
Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, Columbus, Ohio
Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio
Huntington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio
Pittsburgh National Bank, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, California
Prudential Insurance Company, Los Angeles, California
R.J. Reynolds, Salem, North Carolina
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Sidney Lewis Foundation, Richmond, Virginia
Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas
Ten Main Center, Kansas City, Missouri
Rhode Island School of Design, Newport, Rhode Island
PS7, Elmhurst, Queens
