Chung-Ray Fong

Chung-Ray Fong is a Chinese artist born in Henan province in 1933. Young, he worked as a lieutenant in the navy then following political events in his country, he moved to Taiwan in 1949. In Taipei, he followed studies art and founded, in 1958, with Hu Chi-Chong the “Four Seas Artits association”. Influenced by Jackson Pollock and by the “monumental tranquility” of Mark Rothko, the work of Fong Chung-Ray has a completely personal approach. Professor Li Chu-tsing equates the poetic lyricism of his works with the late paintings of Monet. Fong Chung-ray seeks to translate the instability of the moment, nature, the sensation of a space in perpetual evolution, the transformation of clouds, the flow of a river, rain or the movement of waves. In 1961, invited by Liu Guosong, he became a member of the “Fifth Moon Group” and participated in numerous exhibitions. During this period and under the advice of Liu Guosong, he abandoned oil on canvas to find the traditional Chinese techniques of brush and ink thrown on paper. Fong Chung-Ray invents a brush made of palm fibers which gives a rougher aspect to its flat colors by creating effects of textures and gestures. In 1971, he won the Rockefeller Foundation prize allowing him to travel to Europe and the United States. He moved to San Francisco in 1975.