Fong Chung-Ray 馮鍾睿 Henan, China, b. 1934

Fong Chung-Ray started his formal art training at the Cadre College of Arts and Crafts during his time at the military. After graduating in 1954 with a degree in fine arts, he served as an officer and created art works for the Navy. In 1961, he was invited to join the influential Fifth Moon Group.

In the past six decades, Fong Chung-Ray has trailblazed an experimental fusion of Chinese traditional ink art and abstract expressionism, a result of a unique amalgamation of cultural, stylistic, and period influences in his life. Born in China’s Henan province in 1934 into a family of accomplished scholars and artists, Fong was exposed to the learning and appreciation of fine arts since childhood. However, the civil wars and foreign invasions ensued, which led to him joining the military and later moving to Taiwan as a teenager. Thereafter, Fong became inspired by abstract expressionism, which he firmly believes is the closest movement spiritually to traditional Chinese paintings, and has invariably remained significant throughout his artistic career, comprising of a wide range of styles and medium.

Having lived in China, Taiwan and Hawaii, Fong Chung-Ray now lives and works in San Francisco, California. His selected solo exhibitions include: Enlightenment: 1998-2018, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong (2018); Fong Chung-Ray – A Retrospective, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong (2015); Fong Chung-Ray: Between Modern and Contemporary, Chinese Cultural Foundation of San Francisco, United States (2014); and Fong Chung-Ray: A Retrospective, Silicon Valley Asian Art Center, Santa Clara, United States (2013).

His important group exhibitions include The Weight of Lightness: Ink Art at M+, Hong Kong (2017); From China to Taiwan - Pioneers of Abstraction (1955-1985), Brussels, Belgium (2017); Beyond the Brush—Abstract Ink Painting Since 1960 Part II, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom (2017); and Modern Water-Ink Painting Biannual Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan (2007).

Fong Chung-Ray’s works are collected by the National Gallery of Art and Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taichung, Taiwan; M.H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, United States; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, United States; The Denver Art Museum, Denver, United States; Hawaii Cultural Foundation, Hawaii, United States; Baltimore Museum of Art,  Maryland, United States; San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, United States; Kaohsiung Art Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; The University of Kansas Museum of Art, Kansas, United States; Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Boston, United States; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China; and Shenzhen Fine Art Research Institute, Shenzhen, China; M+, Hong Kong.