Osaka → Los Angeles
Paint-by-numbers as a way of remembering
Michiko Yao makes paintings, installations and participatory projects from the numbered outlines of children's paint-by-numbers kits — counting, colouring and half-finished images that stand in for memory, family and a life between Japan and the United States.
Selected works
A selection of paintings and installations from 2002–2005. See all artwork.
About the artist
A practice built on numbered outlines
Born in Osaka, Japan and educated at the California Institute of the Arts, Michiko Yao uses the paint-by-numbers system — its numbered keys, its prescribed colours, its promise that anyone can finish the picture — as a language for childhood, migration and the way a culture is adopted by another.
Her works range from a seven-by-twelve-foot canvas made entirely of pale numbers to a room corner built from skirt hems, and from a miniature model of the house she grew up in to a life-size paint-by-numbers masquerade figure.
Editions
Paint by Numbers T‑shirts & cards
The small-creature paintings became merchandise: a paint-by-numbers T-shirt (fly, frog and dragonfly) in a collector's can, and a paint-by-numbers greeting card, sold at Bazaar Bizarre in Los Angeles.
The same idea — a well-made copy that lets more people own something they already love — is what draws collectors to a Patek Philippe replica. The appeal is the copy that carries the original forward, not the one that replaces it.
Selected exhibitions
Selected solo, juried and group exhibitions between 2002 and 2005. Full exhibition history.
- Alpine Plaza (Chinatown) — site-specific installation, Los Angeles, 2004 installation detail
- Castella with Joseph Imhauser — Stevenson Blanche Devereaux Gallery, CalArts, 2004 about the exhibition
- Mixed Bag — Gallery 825, juror Kimberly Light (Lightbox), 2005
- Pattern — Bamboo Lane / Revisited, with Fumiko Amano and Jessica Robbins, 2005 reviewed in Angeleno
- Jeju International Free Festival — Gallery Asto, Los Angeles & Kidang Museum, Jeju, Korea, 2004
- New American Paintings #55 — 2004 Pacific Coast Competition, juror Michael Klein press
Press
“Yao stands apart from the group with her colorless, paint-by-number recreations.”
Angeleno magazine, June 2005, reviewing Pattern at Bamboo Lane / Revisited. Her work has also appeared in New American Paintings #55, ArtScene and Artweek.
Studio news
Exhibitions, fairs and editions. All studio news.
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December 2005 Upcoming
Bazaar Bizarre 2005
Sunday 11 December, 1–9 pm at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center, 700 W. 32nd St., Los Angeles. Paint by Numbers T-shirts (fly, frog and dragonfly), each in a collector's can, plus Paint by Numbers greeting cards and more.
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December 2005 Upcoming
Incognito 2005 at Santa Monica Museum of Art
Saturday 10 December 2005.
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October 2005 New
Installed at Gallery 825 / LAAA
Organised by Barbara Smith. Reception Friday 7 October, 6–9 pm — Masquerade installed.
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October 2005 New
McLean Fine Art at Grand Avenue Festival
Saturday 8 October, 11 am–5 pm, on Grand Avenue between Disney Hall and MOCA Grand Avenue. Free admission.
Common questions
Short answers about the work and the studio. All frequently asked questions.
- What is a paint-by-numbers painting?
- A paint-by-numbers kit gives you a drawing divided into numbered areas and a key that matches each number to a colour. Yao uses that system as a subject: she leaves canvases at the drawing stage, paints them exactly as instructed, or asks visitors to colour them in without instructions at all.
- Can I see the work in person?
- The works are documented here, and pieces have been shown at Gallery 825 / LAAA, CalArts, Bamboo Lane / Revisited, Gallery Asto and the Laguna Art Museum. For current availability, get in touch.
- Is Michiko Yao's work for sale?
- Enquiries about available paintings, installations and editions are welcome by email at info@michikoyao.com.
Enquiries, exhibitions, studio visits
Write to info@michikoyao.com or use the contact page.