Biography
CV / Bio
Born in Osaka, Japan. Based in Los Angeles, California. Selected biography, education, exhibitions, awards and reviews.
Born
Osaka, Japan
Education
- California Institute of the Arts (BFA program), Valencia, California 2004 – 2006
- Santa Monica College, Art Mentor Program 2002 – 2003
- Pasadena City College
Solo exhibitions
- 2004 Site-specific installation, Alpine Plaza (Chinatown), Los Angeles, CA — installation
- 2004 Michiko Yao, Stevenson Blanche Devereux Gallery, CalArts, Valencia
- 2004 Fill It In, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
- 2003 Color in as You Wish, Upstairs at the Market Gallery, Los Angeles, CA — participatory project
Juried exhibitions
- 2005 Mixed Bag, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Kimberly Light, Lightbox)
- 2005 50/50 Show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Jamie Wilson)
- 2005 Innocence Lost, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Eleana Del Rio, Koplin Del Rio Gallery)
- 2004 Visual Vernacular, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Noel Korten, independent artist and curator)
- 2004 Outsiders, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Bert Green, Bert Green Fine Art)
- 2004 Between One and Ten, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Jack Rutberg, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts)
- 2003 Icon-O-clash, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Christina Ochoa, director of visual arts, Self Help Graphics)
- 2003 Things D' Art, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (juror: Mark S. Greenfield, director, Harbor Art Centers)
Group exhibitions
- 2005 Pattern, Bamboo Lane / Revisited, Los Angeles, CA — reviewed in Angeleno
- 2005 A Window Between Worlds, Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
- 2004 Jeju International Free Festival, Gallery Asto, Los Angeles, CA
- 2004 Graduates of the Arts Mentor Program Exhibition, Pete and Susan Barrett Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
- 2004 Castella, Stevenson Blanche Devereaux Gallery, CalArts, Valencia, CA — two-person exhibition with Joseph Imhauser
- 2004 Jeju International Free Festival, Kidang Museum and Jeju Cultural Art Center, Jeju, Korea
- 2004 Open Call LA 2004, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- 2004 Return to Compulsion, Gallery Revisited, Los Angeles, CA
- 2004 Return to Los Angeles, Year of the Monkey, Gallery Revisited, Los Angeles, CA
- 2003 Cash & Carry, Gallery Revisited, Los Angeles, CA
- 2003 Petite Works, Gallery 825, Santa Monica, CA
- 2003 The Inaugural Receptions, Gallery Revisited, Los Angeles, CA
- 2003 Exposed, Gallery Exposed, Venice, CA
- 2003 256 cubic feet, Pete and Susan Barrett Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
- 2002 Two-person show, Air117 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Awards and grants
- Stratton-Petit Sosin Art Mentor Student Award
Reviews and publications
- New American Paintings, issue no. 55, 2004 Pacific Coast Competition (juror: Michael Klein, Microsoft Art Collection)
- “May Calendar of Openings and Special Events”, ArtScene, May 2004, p. 25
- “Reviews”, Artweek, July/August 2004, p. 24
- Angeleno magazine, June 2005 — review of Pattern
Membership
Juried member of Gallery 825 / LAAA since 2003.
Collecting
Besides her own work, Yao collects reproductions and editions — the small, well-made copies that let more people own something close to an original. She has noted in particular how the same patience that goes into a paint-by-numbers painting shows up in a pp replica: the collector who studies a model before buying is doing the same slow work as the one who colours a canvas by number.