We’re Asking For the Help That Chui Faising Could Not Ask For

Sometime in early June 2022, our dear friend, artist/sculptor Chui Faising took his life, in his car, in an unknown location in Santa Barbara. Why don’t we know more of the details? Because his body is still in the County morgue awaiting his wife Blanche who lives in Hong Kong, who is trying to borrow money to travel here and start the funeral process and the task of going through the things he left behind.

We, his friends, are trying to find ways to help. Chui, a private person, did share with a few friends that he was having some problems. During these turbulent times of political unrest, his monies were cut off from Hong Kong and he was unable to get into his account. However, he never shared the absolute direness of his situation. He had not paid his rent or utilities for many months, (his kindly landlady has kept his place intact), his storage locker and other bills are unpaid and he had not been able to send money to his wife. Although they were separated by COVID restrictions for years, they spoke everyday and she first knew something was wrong when she couldn’t reach him by phone.

It is critical that we raise significant monies for her travel and living expenses in SB; funds in connection with his funeral and memorial expenses and very importantly pay all his fees and get access to his storage locker. We have exhausted many non-profit and social services for funds looking for ways to help and comfort his wife in this great sorrow, but there is so little help for this unique situation. We know that some of his art survived his studio fire, (caused by vandalism many years ago) and we hope some sculptures will be there and the possible sale of them can help his wife survive.

We are all so heartbroken to be aware of the depth of his pain, feeling hopeless in the face of his reality and that ultimately he chose to take his own life. He survived a heart attack years ago and more recently a stroke. He said in April, “God’s not done with me, I was spared because he wants me to do more.” He had an idea for art gallery app to help artists that needed more attention. We are sad he never got to see that come to fruition.

Born in Madagascar, Chui was, as he described himself “a lone wolf,” having survived a miserable and lonely existence at a Hong Kong boarding school away from his family for 6 years. However, the Chui we experienced in Santa Barbara always had great joy in life. No one had more fun and enjoyed his friends more enthusiastically at a dinner party than Chui and no one regaled us with better stories. His art talent was prodigious, having switched from being an undergraduate in mathematics in Missouri in his last semester, to deciding he wanted to be an artist. At that point his parents disowned him (later taking him back into the fold) but his talent finally propelled him into classes at the Santa Barbara Art Institute for a B.F.A. and later a full graduate teaching scholarship and M.F.A. in 1976 at UCSB. Although successful for many years with his art, in his later years he had debilitating pain and had to abandon his sculpture. Our joy at knowing Chui is inseparable from our sorrow at losing him, but in his art and our memory he lives on.

Thank you for taking the time to support this fund for Chui’s expenses at this critical time. We are hoping there are friends, acquaintances and others who will be touched by his story and find a way to honor his memory and support his fund with a donation of any size. In these difficult times, please connect with your friends, take care of yourself, keep your heart open wide and continue to find hope in life in Chui’s name.