“Stepping into Meiying’s studio on Duane Street feels like falling into a dreamworld. Her paintings are exuberant– flush with romantic pinks and reds, flaming yellows and oranges, and big confident brushstrokes. She paints festive cafés and coy party girls and moody women waiting by the phone; but most of all she paints dancers. In Backstage Sisters, a dancer in a marigold-yellow tutu leans over to adjust the bodice of her friend’s costume. In Paris Girls, a dancer closes her eyes as if stealing a private moment amid the frenzy backstage”
Don't Think Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet
Alice Robb
Meiying Thai is a Vietnamese-American multidisciplinary artist. Meiying was born and raised in Manhattan and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY where she works in a broad range of media including drawing, painting, photography, writing and performance. Through romantic and humorous visuals that pull from narratives of her own life, Meiying’s work explores themes of love, female connection, healing, dual-identity, movement, the body and fantasy. Her work is process-based and deeply diaristic, she views each new piece like a page in an ever-unfolding sketchbook.
Meiying has exhibited in both solo and group independent exhibitions and her work is held in private collections across the US and abroad. Additionally, Meiying's work examines how artistic collaboration can cultivate human connection and inspire community building. Her most recent solo show, I Loved You on Every Rooftop (2021), was on view at the High Line Nine Galleries and featured a collaboration with musicians from the New York City Ballet Orchestra. She is currently the Head of Mixed Media and Workshop Programming at NYC Drawing Room where she teaches drawing, painting, and printmaking workshops designed to inspire connection. She is also the director of Cafe Telephone, an on-going global community project she founded in 2015. Cafe Telephone takes form in curated pop-up artist salons that she hosts in intimate environments.
Meiying earned a BFA in Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her performance background includes almost a decade of classical ballet training at the School of American Ballet where she spent seven years performing with the New York City Ballet and was featured in media and publications including The New York Times. As a photographer, Meiying’s natural portraiture aims to celebrate and uplift her subject’s stories. Her photography has been published by Whitewall Art Magazine, BOMB Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Noén Magazine and the Denver Art Museum.
She is also a passionate traveler, and has visited and worked in the studios of artists across Europe, South America, and Asia. She is a fan of breakfast, Iberian ceramics, long-haired dachshunds, and Saigonese motorcycle rides.
Instagram @meiying_thai
