Fay Ku
— Darkness Against the Glittering Sky

“Darkness Against the Glittering Sky” is a curated selection of works spanning several years that represent my love of playing with materials and process within the drawing discipline. These works on paper incorporate paper and paper-like substrates, from traditional Asian papers to translucent drafting film, and processes from collage, hand printmaking and embroidery. While my subject matters are grounded in contemporary times and issues, I aim for a sense of timelessness in my work, reflecting my interest in art and cultural histories across diverse civilizations.

Fay Ku is a Taiwan-born, New York City-based artist whose work is figurative, narrative, and connects with past and present cultural histories. She is the recipient of a 2007 Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant and 2009 New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) fellowship grant, and was a Finalist for the NYFA fellowship in 2023.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions at the Honolulu Museum of Art ( Honolulu, Hawaii), Marlboro College (Marlboro, VT), New Britain Museum of American Art (New Britain, CT), and Snite Museum of Art (South Bend, IN). Her work is in the collections of Honolulu Museum of Art, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art (Las Vegas, NV), New Britain Museum of American Art, University of New Mexico Art Museum, and the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT).  

Ku is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, and for their Pratt in Venice Summer program, Venice, Italy.  She has also taught at New Jersey City University and University of Nevada-Las Vegas, served on NYFA’s Artist Advisory Committee, and as a panelist on the U.S. Fulbright Student Program National Screening Committee, Brooklyn Arts Council, and other non-profit organizations.  She attended Bennington College (Bennington, VT) for her B.A. and holds both a M.F.A. Studio Art and M.S. Art History from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY.  Ku is represented by H Gallery, Paris, France.

I am at heart a drawer, though I often use materials and processes not traditionally associated with drawing. Whatever the media, I create worlds inhabited by women and children engaged in often troubling or even demonic behaviors. I am inspired by many historical techniques and styles—especially traditional East Asian art—but my narratives draw from contemporary concerns. They explore cultural, sexual, and political identities, power dynamics, social, familial, and internal conflicts—in short, the full spectrum of human experience. My work, while not autobiographical, is informed by my experiences as a woman and immigrant, as well as my interests in language, culture, histories and mythologies across various cultures. 

fayku.com

Instagram: @fay.ku