Amy Cheng, born in Taiwan, raised in Brazil, Oklahoma, and Texas, 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.
Statement
I paint what exists but is unseeable — the invisible forces that bind and animate life. I use an invented, ever mutating abstract visual vocabulary that includes pattern, repetition, ornamentation, and layering to create complex macro-micro worlds. The paintings contain layers of depth and vibrate with movement, energy, propulsion, conversion, and change. With these paintings I am pursuing my interest in what science calls the hard question of consciousness. My visual speculations about consciousness are imaginatively, metaphorically, and poetically informed by empirical science, philosophy, and ancient wisdom.
CV
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2026 Palmystery, terrazzo lobby floor for Broward County Property Assessment Office, Fort Lauderdale, FL,
commissioned by Broward County Cultural Division, Public Art & Design
2021 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
2020 Nature Provides, mosaic, glass + brass mural at Western State Hospital, Lakewood, WA.,
commissioned by Arts Washington
2015 Big Skies, printed vinyl traffic boxes located at four downtown street corners, Odessa, TX,
commissioned by the Odessa Council for the Arts & Humanities
2015 Beyond the Biosphere, two printed vinyl canopies, Slauson bus station, Los Angeles, CA,
commissioned by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
2013 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
2012 Rediscovery, four laminated glass windscreens, 25th Avenue Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY,
commissioned by New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts for Transit
2009 Destination: Points Unknown, hand-painted ceramic tile mural, Howard Street El Station, Chicago,
IL, commissioned by Chicago Transit Authority Arts in Transit
2007 Las Flores, seven faceted glass windscreens, Cleveland Street Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY,
commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit
2004 In Memory of My Father, mosaic column, Terminal A, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Commissioned by Port of Seattle, Seattle, WA
2002 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
2024 Summer Spotlight, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
2022 Spheres and SinoSpheres, Volker Orth Museum, Queens, NY
2015 Breathing Lessons, Plattsburg State Art Museum, Plattsburgh, NY
2013 Irrational Exuberance, Tower Fine Art Gallery, University of New York at Brockport, NY
2010 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
2000 Open Your Art and Soul, Art & Soul Gallery, Boulder, CO
2001 Amy Cheng: Paintings, Art & Soul Gallery, Boulder, CO
1998 Present Perfect, Gallery 456, New York, NY
1997 I Shock Myself, Penny Liebman Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1997 Unified Field Theory, Marist College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
1997 The Journey Home, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
1992 The Barbarians Are Coming, C&A Gallery, New York, NY
1991 Amy Cheng: Paintings, The Harrison Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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, NY, NY
2025 Select 2025, Garvey Simon Gallery, New York, NY
2025 Art on Paper Fair, Elza Kayal Gallery, New Yori, NY
2025 Geography of Destiny, Solas Studio, New York, NY
2025 Home Is Where the Heart Is, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY
2024 Perspectives: Six Artists, The Gallery at Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
2023 Process and Delight: The New P & D, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
2023 A Point in Time and Space, West Strand Gallery, Kingston, NY
2022 Matrixes Small Works, Kate Oh Gallery, New York, NY
2018 Meditations in Color: Richard Carter & Amy Cheng, 1801 California, Denver, CO
2018 Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region, (juried by Jean Shin), University Art Museum, SUNY at Albany, NY
2017 Mandalas: Structured and Unstructured, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO
2015 Color, Mary Tomás Gallery, Dallas, TX
2014 Geometric Repetition, Mary Tomás Gallery, Dallas, TX
2014 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, NY
SELECTED GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2023 FST Studios Project Fund
2017 Fulbright Lecture Fellowship, Art Department Painting Graduate Program, Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing
2011 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
2005 Contemplative Practice Fellowship, the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, North Hampton, MA
1996 New York Foundation for the Art, Painting Fellowship
1994 Arts International Travel Grant to China
1990 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
Professor Emerita, Art Department, The State University of New York at New Paltz (currently)
Professor, Art Department, Art Department, The State University of New York at New Paltz (2004-2020)
Associate Professor, Art Department, The State University of New York at New Paltz (1999-2004)
Assistant Professor, Art Department, The State University of New York at New Paltz (1999-1999)
Assistant Professor, Art Department, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (1990-1997)
Lecturer, Art Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (1989-1990)
PANELS & JURIES
2012 Visual Arts Editor for the Stone Canoe, Vol. 7, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2010 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit Program juror for the Metro North Tarrytown Station,
Tarrytown, New York
2004 New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program juror for the Department of Transportation project located in the Sunrise section of Queens, New York
2003 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Maryland State Arts Council Painting Fellowship Jury Panel hosted by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Baltimore, MD
2002 The Millay Art Colony, Austerlitz, NY, juror for residency applicants
2000 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
1997-99 Working Group on the Arts and Humanities, Institute for Innovation in Social Policy, Fordham Graduate Center, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation
EDUCATION
1982 M.F.A. Painting, Hunter College, City University of New York
1978 B.F.A. Painting, University of Texas at Austin