“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. Born and raised in New York City, Meiying is currently based in Brooklyn, 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 celebrates themes of love, female connection, emotional 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 exhibitions and her work is held in private collections across the US and abroad.
Meiying's work also examines how artistic collaboration can cultivate human connection and inspire community building. She is a co-founder of The Ballet Salon, a semi-professional ballet company for former dancers returning to ballet. The Ballet Salon is in development and will launch its first season in 2026. Meiying is also the director of Cafe Telephone, a global community art project she founded in 2015. Active from 2015-2021, Cafe Telephone took form in a series of curated games and pop-up art salons that were hosted in secret and intimate environments. Meiying is also a staff teaching-artist at Drawing Room, where she develops multimedia programming designed to inspire connection.
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 numerous children's roles 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, and the Denver Art Museum.
Instagram @meiying_thai
Newsletter Excerpts:
Fall 2024: I Meant to Write About Paris
Winter 2023: From Florence, with Love
