David Diao (born 1943) is a
Chinese American artist and teacher based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
Background
Diao 刁德谦 was born in
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...
, in China. Several years of his childhood were spent in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, at the moment of the revolution in October 1949, before he ultimately settled in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
[
His father was a student in the US and later became a structural engineer. He joined him in NY in 1955, being 12 years old.
]
Career
Diao completed his undergraduate degree at Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...
in Gambier, Ohio and in 1964 he moved back to New York. There he began working as an artist in the late 1960s. Firstly, he got the job as the sweeper-upper at the Kootz Gallery. Sam Kootz, the owner of this gallery, was among the first to show Abstract Expressionism. In 1966 he worked at the Guggenheim, where he installed shows in case some extra help was necessary.
He first won acclaim and public attention with an exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery
The Paula Cooper Gallery is an art gallery in New York City, founded in 1968 by .
History Predecessors
Cooper ran her own space, the ''Paula Johnson Gallery'', from 1964 to 1966, where Walter De Maria launched his first solo show in New York. ...
in 1969. He is known for his simplification of form, minimal compositions, and uses of stylized text and typography.[Diao on Artsy](_blank)
/ref>
Diao has served on the faculty at Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mo ...
where he met Walid Raad
Walid Raad (Ra'ad) (Arabic: وليد رعد) (born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad. He lives and works in New York, where he is curr ...
, with whom he has collaborated. Diao's work was included at dOCUMENTA 13. His work is featured in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...
, MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, SFMOMA, Rennes's public council collection, among others. Diao taught at the Cooper Union in the early 70s and was then mostly doing color field painting made by squeegying paint across a large canvas.
In 2008 he had his first exhibition in China.
In 2012, he was elected into the National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
.[ He received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2015).
Diao is currently represented by ]Postmasters
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
in New York, Tanya Leighton in Berlin and Office Baroque in Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
Past Shows
* Le Consortium, Thematic exhibition, ''New York : The Eighties ; part two (extented version)'', France, Dijon, 07 Jan - 25 April 2021.
* Le Consortium, Thematic exhibition, ''New York :The Eigthies ; part two,'' France, Dijon, 26 Oct 2019 - 04 Oct 2020.Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, 2014 Whitney Biennial, NY, Mar 7 - May 25, 2014.
* Postmasters gallery, DAVID DIAO - TMI, NY, Mar 23 - Apr 27 2013
References
External links
David Diao by Matthew Deleget
'' Bomb''
Living people
American artists of Chinese descent
American contemporary painters
1943 births
Abstract painters
People from Chengdu
Kenyon College alumni
Hampshire College faculty
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