Amy Cheng is a New York City-based visual artist. She was born in Taiwan, raised in Brazil, Oklahoma, and Texas, and is a widely exhibited painter who maintains a parallel career in public art. She received a BFA in Painting from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA in Painting from Hunter College, City University of New York. Her paintings and works on paper are held in a number of corporate and public collections, including the Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY, Sheraton Hotels, Brussels, Belgium, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, PA, New York University Langone Medical Center, and Hewlett-Packard, San Francisco. She has completed a dozen permanent commissions fabricated in mosaic, glass, ceramic, terrazzo and more. These include projects at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, WA, the Howard Street El Station, Chicago, IL, the 25th Avenue Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY, and Western State Hospital, Tacoma, WA. She has received two New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowships, a Senior Research/Lecture Fulbright to USP, São Paulo, Brazil, and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship at Renmin University, Beijing, China. She is a Professor Emerita of the Art Department at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
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Statement
I build complex worlds that move between the astral macro and the subatomic micro. The objects and forms in my abstract, but referential, paintings do not obey laws of gravity. The spaces are free-floating, continuous, and do not contain horizon lines. My images suggest vibrating energy, movement, and spatial complexity. I sprinkle in flowers as embodiments of consciousness — enlivening, buoyant, life affirming — and I create fields of moving particles that resembles how physicists visualize quantum phenomena. I paint what exists, yet remains unseen. I am interested in the invisible forces that bind and animate life, with an emphasis on the phenomenon of consciousness. My love of pattern and decoration is innate. I use a visual vocabulary of repetition and ornamentation that comes out of my Asian background. Far Eastern, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous Art all gravitate to this visual language. Perhaps because this is how nature is structured, it is easy for the human nervous system to directly connect with it.
CV
SELECTED PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2026Â Â Â Â Â Palmystery, terrazzo lobby floor for Broward County Property Assessment Office, Fort Lauderdale, FL
         commissioned by Broward County Cultural Division, Public Art & Design
2021Â Â Â Â Â Worlds Within Worlds, laminated glass windscreens for four Streetcar Stations + seating and ceiling
         designs for Gold Lynx streetcars, commissioned by Charlotte Area Transit System, Charlotte, NC
2020Â Â Â Â Â Nature Provides, mosaic, glass + brass mural at Western State Hospital, Lakewood, WA.,
         commissioned by Arts Washington
2015Â Â Â Â Â Big Skies, printed vinyl traffic boxes located at four downtown street corners, Odessa, TX,
         commissioned by the Odessa Council for the Arts & Humanities
2015Â Â Â Â Â Beyond the Biosphere, two printed vinyl canopies, Slauson bus station, Los Angeles, CA,
         commissioned by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
2013Â Â Â Â Â Celestial Playground, mosaic + brass sheeting mural, Jacksonville International Airport,
         Jacksonville, FL, commissioned by Jacksonville Aviation Authority
2013     Nucleic Life Formation, two ceramic tile murals, Lambert-St. Louis Int’l Airport, St. Louis, MO,
         commissioned by Metro St. Louis
2012Â Â Â Â Â Rediscovery, four laminated glass windscreens, 25th Avenue Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY,
         commissioned by New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts for Transit
2009Â Â Â Â Â Destination: Points Unknown, hand-painted ceramic tile mural, Howard Street El Station, Chicago, IL
         commissioned by Chicago Transit Authority Arts in Transit
2007Â Â Â Â Â Las Flores, seven faceted glass windscreens, Cleveland Street Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY,
         commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit
2004Â Â Â Â Â In Memory of My Father, mosaic column, Terminal A, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
         Commissioned by Port of Seattle, Seattle, WA
2002Â Â Â Â Â Looking Through the Layers of Time, oil-painted Dibond panels, P.S. 58, The School of Heroes,
         Maspeth, NY, commissioned by NYC Public Art for Public Schools,
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024Â Â Â Â Summer Spotlight, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
2022Â Â Â Â Spheres and SinoSpheres, Volker Orth Museum, Queens, NY
2015Â Â Â Â Breathing Lessons, Plattsburg State Art Museum, Plattsburgh, NY
2013Â Â Â Â Irrational Exuberance, Tower Fine Art Gallery, University of New York at Brockport, NY
2010Â Â Â Â Evidence of Things Unseen, Turchin Center for Visual Art, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
2005    Amy Cheng: Paintings, Moreau Gallery, St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN
2000Â Â Â Â Open Your Art and Soul, Art & Soul Gallery, Boulder, CO
2001Â Â Â Â Amy Cheng: Paintings, Art & Soul Gallery, Boulder, CO
1998Â Â Â Â Present Perfect, Gallery 456, New York, NY
1997Â Â Â Â I Shock Myself, Penny Liebman Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1997Â Â Â Â Unified Field Theory, Marist College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
1997Â Â Â Â The Journey Home, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
1992Â Â Â Â The Barbarians Are Coming, C&A Gallery, New York, NY
1991Â Â Â Â Amy Cheng: Paintings, The Harrison Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026Â Â Â Â Escape Velocity: Amy Cheng, X.S. Hou, Cecil Howell, Goldie Poblador, curated by Dominika Tylcz, Ghostmachine, New York, NY
2026    Touch Frequencies: Amy Cheng and Avani Patel, P.S. 122 Gallery, New York, NY
2025    Salon Zurcher: 100 Women of Spirit, Part 3, a satellite of the Armory Fair, Zürcher Gallery, New York, NY
2025Â Â Â Â Select 2025, Garvey Simon Gallery, New York, NY
2025Â Â Â Â Art on Paper Fair, Elza Kayal Gallery, New York, NY
2025Â Â Â Â Geography of Destiny, Solas Studio, New York, NY
2025Â Â Â Â Home Is Where the Heart Is, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY
2024Â Â Â Â Perspectives: Six Artists, The Gallery at Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
2023Â Â Â Â Process and Delight: The New P & D, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
2023Â Â Â Â A Point in Time and Space, West Strand Gallery, Kingston, NY
2022Â Â Â Â Matrixes Small Works, Kate Oh Gallery, New York, NY
2018Â Â Â Â Meditations in Color: Richard Carter & Amy Cheng, 1801 California, Denver, CO
2018Â Â Â Â Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region, (juried by Jean Shin), University Art Museum, SUNY at Albany, NY
2017Â Â Â Â Mandalas: Structured and Unstructured, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO
2015    Color, Mary Tomás Gallery, Dallas, TX
2014    Geometric Repetition, Mary Tomás Gallery, Dallas, TX
2014Â Â Â Â The Reason for Beauty, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
SELECTED CORPORATE, MUSEUM AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, Banyan Primera, Lake Mary, FL, Montefiore Einstein Fine Art Collection, The Bronx, NY, Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, CA, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Collegeville, PA, United States State Department, U.S. Embassy, Kazakhstan, Sheraton Hotels, Brussels, Belgium, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, PA, Lang Communications, New York, NY, King County Public Art Collection, Seattle, WA, Hewlett-Packard, San Francisco, CA, Florida-Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, WAM Singapore, Sam Houston University, Huntsville, TX, University Hospital, San Antonio, TX, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, Kingston Hospital, Kingston, NY
SELECTED GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2023Â Â Â Â FST Studios Project Fund
2017Â Â Â Â Fulbright Lecture Fellowship, Art Department Painting Graduate Program, Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing, PRC
2011Â Â Â Â Studio Artist Space Program, PS 122 Studios, New York, NY
2008    Fulbright Senior Lecture/Research grant to Brazil, Visiting Professor, Graduate Painting Program, São
        Paulo, SP, Brazil
2005Â Â Â Â Contemplative Practice Fellowship, the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, North Hampton, MA
1996Â Â Â Â New York Foundation for the Art, Painting Fellowship
1994Â Â Â Â Arts International Travel Grant to China
1990Â Â Â Â New York Foundation for the Arts, Painting Fellowship
SELECTED ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Carter Burden Covello Center (Jan-Mar 2009), Constance Saltonstall Foundation Ithaca, NY (2011), Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA (2011, 2007, 2006, 2005), McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC (Jan-Mar 2009), Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL (2009, 2007), Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (2005), Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain (1999), The Millay Colony, Austerliltz, NY (1997), MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH (1992, 1989), Yaddo Corporation, Saratoga Springs, NY (1990)
SELECTED TEACHING
2020-present — Professor Emerita, Art Department, The State University of New York at New Paltz. (Professor from 2004-2020, Associate Professor,               from 1999-2004, Assistant Professor from 1997-1999)
1990-1997 — Assistant Professor, Art Department, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NYÂ
1989-1990 —Lecturer, Art Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (1989-1990)
PUBLICATION
Amy Cheng, “Learning to See: A Fulbright Semester Teaching Painting in Beijing.” 57-67, in Narrative Inquiries From Fulbright Lecturers in China: Cross-Cultural Connections in Higher Education, edited by Shin Freedman, Pat Munday and Jeannette W. Cockcroft. Routeledge, 2019.
PANELS & JURIES
2012Â Â Â Â Â Visual Arts Editor for the Stone Canoe, Vol. 7, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2010Â Â Â Â Â Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit Program juror for the Metro North Tarrytown Station, Tarrytown, New York
2004Â Â Â Â Â New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program juror for the Department of Transportation project locatedÂ
         in the Sunrise section of Queens, New York
2003Â Â Â Â Â Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Maryland State Arts Council Painting Fellowship Jury Panel hosted by the Mid Atlantic Arts
         Foundation, Baltimore, MD
2002Â Â Â Â Â The Millay Art Colony, Austerlitz, NY, juror for residency applicants
2000Â Â Â Â Â Conversation hosted by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, led by Carol Becker and Michael Brenson, funded by the
         Rockefeller Foundation, to discuss establishing a center for the study of art and artists in society.
1999     Ooh Ahh… Oh! Arts Now 1999, co-director of art conference sponsored by The School of Fine and Performing Arts,
         State of New York at New Paltz on the topic of art and audience
1997-99Â Â Working Group on the Arts and Humanities, Institute for Innovation in Social Policy, Fordham Graduate Center, sponsored
         by the Rockefeller Foundation
EDUCATION
1982Â Â Â Â M.F.A. Painting, Hunter College, City University of New York
1978Â Â Â Â B.F.A. Painting, University of Texas at Austin