Wen-Ying Tsai

Style: Kinetic Art;

Place: Xiamen

Born: 1928

Death: 2013

Biography:

Wen-Ying Tsai was a Chinese-American pioneer cybernetic sculptor and kinetic artist best known for creating sculptures using electric motors, stainless steel rods, stroboscopic light, and audio feedback control. As one of the first Chinese-born artists to achieve international recognition in the 1960s, Tsai was an inspiration to generations of Chinese artists around the world. Tsai was born in Xiamen, Fujian, China in 1928. He moved to Shanghai in 1939 to study chemical engineering at Ta Tung University. In 1949, he moved to Hong Kong, and then moved to the United States in 1950. He attended the University of Michigan, receiving a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) in 1953. Moving to New York City after graduation, Tsai began working as an architectural engineer for clients such as Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Synergetics, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. While working as an engineer by day, Tsai pursued artistic studies at the Art Students League at night, while also taking courses in political science and economics at the New School for Social Research. Tsai also attended modern dance classes with Erick Hawkins. In 1962, he became a US citizen. In 1963, Tsai won a John Hay Whitney Fellowship for Painting, after which he decided to leave engineering and devote himself full-time to the arts. He passed away in 2013.