Ming Fay

Ming Fay
Ming Fay in his New York City loft in the 1990s.
费明杰
Born(1943-02-02)February 2, 1943
Shanghai, China
DiedFebruary 23, 2025(2025-02-23) (aged 82)
New York City, U.S.
Education

Kansas City Art Institute (B.F.A.)

OccupationsProfessor at William Paterson University;
Artist
Known forSculpture, Installation
Websitemingfay.com

Ming Fay (Chinese: 费明杰; also Fei Mingjie; February 2, 1943 – February 23, 2025) was a Chinese-American sculptor based in New York City. He was best-known for his sculptures, public art and large scale installations. He was a professor of sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. His work focuses on the concept of the garden as a symbol of utopia and the relationship between man and nature. Working primarily in papier-mâché over a wire armature, Fay drew from his life-long engagement with Chinese and American horticulture and mythologies to create sculptures of large-scale botanical forms and invented imaginary species. Fay was a co-founder of Epoxy Art Group, a New York City-based art collective founded in 1982.

Background

Ming Fay was born in Shanghai on February 2, 1943, and in 1952 moved to Hong Kong, soon after the rise of communism in mainland China. His mother was an artist, and his father worked in the then-burgeoning Hong Kong movie industry as an art director. Both were students of Shanghai-based sculptor Zhang Chongren, who had studied Western sculpture in Europe.[citation needed] Fay's mother taught him papier-mache.

Fay came to the United States in 1961 to study at the Columbus College of Art and Design, later transferring to the Kansas City Institute of Art, where he earned his BFA. He moved to New York City in 1973, finding an apartment in Chinatown. Fay earned a graduate degree in sculpture at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1970.

In 1981, Fay married Pui Lee Chang in New York. He had one son. Ming Gi Fay died on February 23, 2025, at the age of 82.

Artistic career

In 1982, Fay and five other Chinese American artists founded the art collective Epoxy Art Group, which remained active until 1992. Fay was also a member of Godzilla: Asian American Art Network.

Fay 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's Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, and glass mosaic murals for the Delancey Street – Essex Street New York City Subway station.

Shad Crossing, 2004. Glass tile mosaic. Delancey Street subway station. Commissioned by the NYC MTA. Photograph by Marissa Alper
Shad Crossing, 2004. Glass tile mosaic. Delancey Street subway station. Commissioned by the NYC MTA. Photograph by Marissa Alper

Fay received the 2007 NYFA fellowship in Sculpture.

Fay taught sculpture at the Pratt Institute (1978-1980) and at William Paterson University (1983-2016). From 2000 to 2014, he was an Artist-in-Residence at the Rinehart School of Sculpture, Master of Fine Arts Program, at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). He retired from instructing in 2016.

Mediums

Fay's early sculptural works used metal in abstract geometric forms. While living in New York City, Fay's style began to shift into mixed media sculptures, often depicting giant fruits and plants. Among the materials Fay used were "epoxy, paint, paper pulp, gauze, glass, polystyrene foam, [and] rice paper". He drew inspiration from the city's many fruit markets. Fay also referenced the Chinese folk deitities Sanxing in his works.

Exhibitions

photo by xiaog527
Various sculptures by Ming Fay on view at The Campus, an upstate former school-turned collaborative space

Fay exhibited and is exhibiting internationally in numerous solo exhibitions. His exhibitions have taken place at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris (New York, NY), the National Academy Museum (New York, NY), Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, Łódź Biennale at The International Artists' Museum (Łódź, Poland), Butters Gallery (Portland, Oregon), Ramapo Gallery (Ramapo, New Jersey), and the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Public art commissions

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Collections

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Awards and honors

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See also

References

  1. ↑ Sullivan, Michael (April 3, 2006). Modern Chinese Artists: A Biographical Dictionary. University of California Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-520-24449-8.
  2. ↑ "Ming Fay: Beyond Nature". SAPAR CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Art Department: Fay-Ming". William Paterson University. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Fay, Ming". Ming Fay, About page. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Epoxy Art Group". Ming Fay 費明杰. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
  6. ↑ Patterson, Mary Jo (May 19, 2012). "Nature in All Its Lushness, From an Urbanite's Mind". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  7. ↑ Goodman, Jonathan (April 2013). "Ming Fay: From Money Trees to Monkey Pots" (PDF). Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pontone, Maya (March 4, 2025). "Ming Fay, Artist of Whimsical Sculptural Gardens, Dies at 82". Hyperallergic. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  9. ↑ Morgan, Robert C. (June 5, 2019). "Ming Fay: Beyond Nature". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  10. ↑ Marter, Joan M. (2011). Epoxy Art Group. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533579-8. Retrieved March 4, 2017. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Ming Fay". Meer. May 8, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  12. ↑ "MTA Arts & Design". MTA Info. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  13. ↑ "費明杰". CAACArts. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "About". Ming Fay / 费明杰. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  15. 1 2 Patterson, Mary Jo (May 19, 2012). "Nature in All Its Lushness, From an Urbanite's Mind". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Ming Fay at The Campus". Ming Fay. 2025. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  17. ↑ "midnite porridge". Ming Fay. 2025. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  18. ↑ "Ming Fay: Botanical Curiosities". Ming Fay. 2025. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Metamorphosis: Chinese Imagination and Transformation". Ming Fay. 2025. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Ming Fay: Edge of the Garden". ISGM. 2025. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Where We Meet: Imagining Gardens and Futures". PAO Arts Center. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  22. ↑ "New Land Plaza: You Can't Beat a New York Original". Ming Fay. 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Journey into Nature". Ming Fay. 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  24. ↑ Trenton, Janet Purcell (May 11, 2012). "Ming Fay's 'Canutopia' inaugurates Grounds for Sculpture's new gallery". nj. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  25. 1 2 3 4 "MingFay.com". MingFay. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  26. ↑ Hicks, Bob (August 4, 2011). "Ming Fay comes 'Full Circle' at Butters and Rick Bartow captures the moment at Froelick (review)". oregonlive. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  27. ↑ Brenson, Michael (February 15, 1991). "Review/Art; Concentrated Passion of the Circle and the Square". The New York Times.
  28. ↑ GSA Art in Architecture: Selected Artworks, 1997-2008. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service. 2008.