Asia Art Archive in America (AAAinA) is thrilled to present Offering the Spiritual: A Selection of Ming Fay’s Public Art Projects. This gathering of archival materials and maquettes will be showcased in the ongoing exhibition, Metamorphosis, hosted by China Institute and curated by Susan Beningson. 

When describing his public art projects, Ming Fay shared, “In modern urban environments, the need for a reminder of the natural world is particularly significant and necessary. In my work, I strive to demonstrate the wonder of even the humblest forms, lending the viewer a new appreciation of the ordinary.” Offering the Spiritual highlights three of Fay’s NYC-based public projects that can still be visited today. Each project, Enigma Elm (1995), Shad Crossing and Delancy Orchard (2004), and Whitehall Crossing, (2005) is showcased through a selection of photos, sketches, and physical maquettes and reproductions. 

For more information on gallery hours, please follow this LINK. 

Artist Bio

Ming Fay 費明杰 (1943 – 2025) was a New York City-based artist known for his installations of immersive sculptural gardens and public art. 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. He focused on the concept of the garden as a symbol of abundance or a utopia—a metaphorical location for humankind’s desirable state of being.

Born in Shanghai to two artists and raised in Hong Kong, Fay moved to the United States in 1961 to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design. He received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Fay taught sculpture at universities, including William Paterson University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work is held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, New Museum, M+, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, among others. Important exhibitions and installations have taken place at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Exit Art, Grounds for Sculpture, Art Basel, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.

AAAinA’s general programming and operations are funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Vilcek Foundation, and other foundations and individuals.