{{Short description|Chinese-born American sculptor (1943–2025)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Ming Gi Fay thumb|Ming Fay in his New York City loft in the 1990s. | native_name = 费明杰 | native_name_lang = zh | birth_date = {{Birth date|1943|02|02}} | birth_place = Shanghai, China | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|02|23|1943|02|02}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | occupation = Professor at William Paterson University;<br />Artist | known_for = Sculpture, Installation | education = {{Plainlist| *Columbus College of Art and Design Kansas City Art Institute (B.F.A.) *University of California, Santa Barbara (M.F.A.)}} | website = {{URL|mingfay.com/}} | spouse = Pui Lee Chang (m. 1981)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/61406/records/3766044 |title=Ming Gi Fay in the New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018|via=ancestrylibrary.com|access-date=March 4, 2025}}</ref> }}
'''Ming Gi Fay''' ({{lang-zh|c=费明杰}}; also '''Fei Mingjie''';<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lg_-RQ3t3dYC&dq=%22Ming+Fay%22&pg=PA34 |title=Modern Chinese Artists: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2006-04-03 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24449-8 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref> February 2, 1943 – February 23, 2025) was a Chinese-born sculptor and academic based in New York City. His work focuses on the concept of the garden as a symbol of utopia and the relationship between man and nature. Drawing upon an extensive knowledge of plants both Eastern and Western, real and mythical, Fay created his own calligraphic floating forest of reeds, branches, and surreal species.<ref name=artasia>{{cite web|title=Fay, Ming|url=http://artasiamerica.org/artist/detail/144|website=artasiamerica|accessdate=25 February 2017}}</ref> He was best-known for his sculpture and large scale installations and he had recently taught sculpture at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.<ref name="Department of Art">{{cite web|url=http://www.wpunj.edu/coac/departments/art/faculty/fay-ming.dot|title=Art Department: Fay-Ming|website=William Paterson University|accessdate=18 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111012542/http://www.wpunj.edu/coac/departments/art/faculty/fay-ming.dot|archive-date=11 November 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Background== Ming Gi 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.<ref name= Patterson>{{cite news|last1=Patterson|first1=Mary Jo|title=Nature in All Its Lushness, From an Urbanite's Mind |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/nyregion/canutopia-exhibition-by-ming-fay-at-the-grounds-for-sculpture.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 May 2012 |accessdate= 25 February 2017}} </ref> His mother was an artist, and his father worked in the then-burgeoning Hong Kong movie industry as an art director.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goodman |first=Jonathan |date=April 2013 |title=Ming Fay: From Money Trees to Monkey Pots |url=http://yishu-online.com/wp-content/uploads/mm-products/uploads/2013_v12_02_goodman_j_p096.pdf |journal=Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art}}</ref> Both were students of Shanghai-based sculptor Zhang Chongren, who had studied Western sculpture in Europe.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Fay's mother taught him papier-mache.<ref name=":1" />
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.<ref name=":1" /> He moved to New York City in 1973, finding an apartment in Chinatown.<ref name=":1" /> Fay earned a graduate degree in sculpture at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Robert C. |date=2019-06-05 |title=Ming Fay: Beyond Nature |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2019/06/artseen/Ming-Fay-Beyond-Nature |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1981, Fay married Pui Lee Chang in New York. He had one son.<ref name=":1" /> Ming Gi Fay died on February 23, 2025, at the age of 82.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Pontone |first=Maya |date=2025-03-04 |title=Ming Fay, Artist of Whimsical Sculptural Gardens, Dies at 82 |url=https://hyperallergic.com/994006/ming-fay-artist-of-whimsical-sculptural-gardens-dies-at-82/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Artistic career== In 1982, Fay and five other Chinese American artists founded the art collective Epoxy Art Group, which remained active until 1992.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Epoxy Art Group">{{cite book |title=Epoxy Art Group |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195335798.001.0001/acref-9780195335798-e-617 |accessdate=4 March 2017 |website=Oxford Reference |isbn=978-0-19-533579-8 |last1=Marter |first1=Joan M. |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> Fay was also a member of Godzilla: Asian American Art Network.<ref name=":2" />
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.<ref name="MTA">{{cite web|title=MTA Arts & Design|url=http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=n&line=J&station=18&artist=1&img=4&xdev=1920|website= MTA Info|accessdate=4 March 2017}}</ref>
Fay received the 2007 NYFA fellowship in Sculpture.<ref name="CAAC">{{cite web|title=費明杰|url=http://www.caacarts.org/dp/?q=zh-hant/node/17&id=153|website=CAACArts|accessdate= 25 February 2017}}</ref>
Fay taught sculpture at the Pratt Institute (1978-1980) and at William Paterson University (1983-2016).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> 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).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> He retired from instructing in 2016.<ref name=":1" />
=== Style === Fay's early sculptural works used metal in abstract geometric forms.<ref name=":2" /> While living in New York City, Fay's style began to shift into mixed media sculptures, often depicting giant fruits and plants.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Patterson |first=Mary Jo |date=2012-05-19 |title=Nature in All Its Lushness, From an Urbanite's Mind |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/nyregion/canutopia-exhibition-by-ming-fay-at-the-grounds-for-sculpture.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name=":2" />
=== Exhibitions === 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.
* ''Ming Fay at The Campus'', The Campus, New York (2025)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2025 |title=Ming Fay at The Campus|url=https://www.mingfay.com/the-campus-2025 |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=Ming Fay}}</ref> * ''midnite porridge'', kurimanzutto, New York (2025)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2025 |title=midnite porridge|url=https://www.mingfay.com/midniteporridgeatkurimanzutto |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=Ming Fay}}</ref> * ''Ming Fay: Botanical Curiosities'', Alisan Fine Arts, New York (2025)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2025 |title=Ming Fay: Botanical Curiosities|url=https://www.mingfay.com/botanical-curiosities-alisan-fine-arts-2025 |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=Ming Fay}}</ref> * ''Metamorphosis: Chinese Imagination and Transformation'', China Institute Gallery, New York (2025)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2025 |title=Metamorphosis: Chinese Imagination and Transformation|url=https://www.mingfay.com/metamorphosis-china-institute-2025 |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=Ming Fay}}</ref> * ''Ming Fay: Edge of the Garden'', Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2025)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2025 |title=Ming Fay: Edge of the Garden|url=https://www.gardnermuseum.org/ming-fay-exhibition |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=ISGM}}</ref> * ''Where We Meet: Imagining Gardens and Futures,'' Pao Arts Center, Boston (2025) <ref>{{Cite web |title=Where We Meet: Imagining Gardens and Futures |url=https://www.paoartscenter.org/events/wherewemeet|access-date=2026-04-03 |website=PAO Arts Center |language=en}}</ref> * ''New Land Plaza: You Can't Beat a New York Original'', Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York (2023)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2023 |title=New Land Plaza: You Can't Beat a New York Original |url=https://www.mingfay.com/storefront-2023 |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=Ming Fay}}</ref> * ''Journey into Nature'', Alisan Fine Arts Gallery, Hong Kong (2022)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2022|title=Journey into Nature |url=https://www.mingfay.com/journey-into-nature-2022 |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=Ming Fay}}</ref> * Sapar Contemporary, New York City (2019)<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2019-05-08 |title=Ming Fay |url=https://www.meer.com/en/53700-ming-fay |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=Meer |language=en}}</ref> * Grounds for Sculpture, New Jersey (2012)<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Trenton |first=Janet Purcell |date=2012-05-11 |title=Ming Fay's 'Canutopia' inaugurates Grounds for Sculpture's new gallery |url=https://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/2012/05/ming_fays_canutopia_inaugurate.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=nj |language=en}}</ref> * ''Every Exit Is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art,'' Exit Art, New York (2012) <ref>{{Cite web |title=MingFay.com|url=https://www.mingfay.com/about |access-date=2026-04-03 |website=MingFay |language=en}}</ref> * Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon (2011)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Bob |date=2011-08-04 |title=Ming Fay comes 'Full Circle' at Butters and Rick Bartow captures the moment at Froelick (review) |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/art/2011/08/ming_fay_comes_full_circle_at.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=oregonlive |language=en}}</ref> * ''The Hybrid State,'' Exit Art, New York (2000) <ref>{{Cite web |title=MingFay.com|url=https://www.mingfay.com/about |access-date=2026-04-03 |website=MingFay |language=en}}</ref> * ''The Garden of Sculptural Delights,'' Exit Art, New York (1994) <ref>{{Cite web |title=MingFay.com|url=https://www.mingfay.com/about |access-date=2026-04-03 |website=MingFay |language=en}}</ref> * ''The End,'' Exit Art, New York (1992) <ref>{{Cite web |title=MingFay.com|url=https://www.mingfay.com/about |access-date=2026-04-03 |website=MingFay |language=en}}</ref> * ''Nature Reborn: From Archaeology to Science Fiction, 1979-1990'', Terry Adkins Ledis Flam Gallery, New York City (1991)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brenson |first=Michael |date=1991-02-15 |title=Review/Art; Concentrated Passion of the Circle and the Square. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA175130058 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
===Public art commissions=== Source:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.mingfay.com/about |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=Ming Fay / 费明杰 |language=en-US}}</ref> *'''2009''' Chicago Public Art Program, O'Hare International Airport Terminal 2, Chicago *'''2005''' Whitehall Crossing, Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, Cultural Affairs Department, New York *'''2004''' ''Goldilocks'', Tivoli Building, Redevelopment Authority, Philadelphia *'''2004''' ''Pillar Arc'', Federal Courthouse, General Services Administration, Seattle<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hoE0AQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Ming+Fay%22&pg=PA143 |title=GSA Art in Architecture: Selected Artworks, 1997-2008 |date=2008 |publisher=General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service |language=en}}</ref> *'''2004''' Delancey Orchard and Shad Crossing, Delancey Street/Essex Street station, Metropolitan Transit Authority, New York<ref name=":1" /> *'''2003''' Arbol Magico, Lluberas Park, Department of Transportation and Public Works, Yauco, Puerto Rico *'''2002''' ''Ginkoberry Gwa'', Oregon Convention Center, Portland *'''1999''' Lippmann Arcade Project, NYC Economic Development Corporation, Queens *'''1998''' Staten Island Ferry Terminal Project, Cultural Affairs Department, New York *'''1997''' Public Art Fund Project, Phipps Housing, The Bronx, New York *'''1995''' ''Spiral Ears'', Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center, Philadelphia *'''1990''' ''Leaf Gate'', Keys Flight, Seed of Elm, The Spirit of the Elm, Elm in Bloom, Sprouting Buds, P.S. 7, Elmhurst, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Queens, NY
===Collections=== Source:<ref name=":0" /> {{div col|colwidth=25em}} * China Club, Hong Kong, CN *Conrad Hilton Hotel, Hong Kong, CN *Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, CN *J.P. Morgan, Hong Kong, CN *M+ Museum, Hong Kong, CN *Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan '''United States''' *Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY *Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH *Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, Columbus, OH *Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO *Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX *Howard Plaza Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan *John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI *Mobil Oil Corporation, New York, NY * New Museum, New York, NY (Epoxy Art Group) *Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA *Prudential Insurance Company, Los Angeles, CA *R.J. Reynolds Corporation, Salem, NC *Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI *Ten Main Center, Kansas City, MO *Sidney Lewis Foundation, Richmond, VA *Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ {{div col end}}
== Awards and honors == Source:<ref name=":0" /> *'''2008''' Sculpture Award, National Academy of Art, New York, NY *'''2007''' Fellowship in Sculpture, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY *'''2004''' National Endowment for the Arts Grant, Commission Proposal Support *'''1995''' Arts/ Industry Residency Program, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Kohler, WI *'''1994''' MidAtlantic Arts Foundation Grant, Residency Program, Brodksy Center for Innovative Editions, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ *'''1994''' Residency Program, UrbanGlass: New York Center for Contemporary Glass, Brooklyn, NY *'''1992''' Arts Partners Program, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, New York, NY
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links== * [http://artasiamerica.org/artist/detail/144/ Selected works on Art Asian America] * [http://www.lesleyheller.com/artists/ming-fay/ Selected works from Lesley Heller Gallery] * [http://www.mingfay.com Official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fay, Ming}} Category:1943 births Category:2025 deaths Category:20th-century American male artists Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:21st-century American male artists Category:21st-century American sculptors Category:Artists from Shanghai Category:Refugees of the Chinese Civil War Category:Columbus College of Art and Design alumni Category:Hong Kong artists Category:University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Category:William Paterson University faculty