Born in China but raised in New York City, Siyan Wong is a first generation immigrant. Her subjects are the working poor, the homeless, women and the elderly.
Siyan acquired her art fundamentals at LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. Though she went on to study history and economics in college, then attended law school and began working as a workers' rights lawyer, Siyan never stopped making art. Since 2015, she renewed her art studies by taking classes at various places, including the New York Art Academy, Cooper Union and, currently, the Art Students League. Primarily a self-taught artist, Siyan spends her free time studying the works of great painters and paints in her home studio late into the night. She is inspired by the colors of Paul Cezanne, the confidence in Alice Neel's lines, the powerful stories told by Jacob Lawrence’s simple figures and forms, and the passion of Isidre Nonell to paint the socially ostracized at a time when they were “invisible.”
Since 2018, Siyan exhibited her paintings at the Equity Gallery of New York Artist Equity Association, New York Arts Center, The National Arts Club, and on Governors Island. She spoke about the subject matter of her art at The Black Institute, Asia Society New York, Museum of Chinese in America, and various universities and institutions.
As a workers' rights lawyer, Siyan’s contact with everyday working people informs her empathy and artistic vision. But her immigrant roots and her daily encounters as a Chinese American and Asian American woman illuminate her visual interests.
Siyan’s work is fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and supported by grants from the New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), Asian Women Giving Circle (AWGC), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA).