David Diao

{{Promotional tone|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox artist | name = David Diao | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1943 | birth_place = Chengdu, China<ref name=ofelio>[http://www.ofelio.com/show?id=54880&lang=en&start=0&length=10 Preview of Symposium: “Which Way Up?”, 2015]{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> | death_date = | death_place = | known_for = Painting | training = | movement = Lyrical Abstraction, Hard-Edge Painting, Pop art | notable_works = | patrons = | awards = | elected = National Academy (2012) }} '''David Diao''' (born 1943) is a Chinese American artist and teacher based in New York City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pratt.edu/news/view/ar/|title=Artist David Diao to Speak March 8 as Part of Visiting Artist Lecture Series |work=pratt.edu|accessdate=August 6, 2011}}</ref>

==Background== David Diao (刁德谦) was born in Chengdu, China. Several years of his childhood were spent in Hong Kong, at the moment of the Chinese Communist Revolution in October 1949, before he ultimately settled in the United States.<ref name=ofelio/> His father was a student in the US and later became a structural engineer. Diao joined his father in New York in 1955 at the age of 12.

==Career== Diao completed his undergraduate degree at Kenyon College 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.<ref>[https://bombmagazine.org/articles/david-diao/ title David Diao by Matthew Deleget]</ref>

He first won acclaim and public attention with an exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery in 1969. He is known for his simplification of form, minimal compositions, and uses of stylized text and typography.<ref name="Diao on Artsy">[https://www.artsy.net/artist/david-diao/shows|title=David Diao on Artsy]</ref>

Diao has served on the faculty at Hampshire College where he met Walid Raad, with whom he has collaborated. Diao's work was included at dOCUMENTA 13.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Waltemath|first=Joan|title=David Diao and Walid Raad|journal=The Brooklyn Rail|date=June 2012|url=http://brooklynrail.org/2012/11/artseen/david-diao-and-walid-raad}}</ref> His work is featured in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,<ref>{{cite web|title=David Diao|url=http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/search-results/?edan_search_value=David%20Diao|publisher=Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden|accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref> MoMA,<ref>{{cite web|title=MoMA Collection|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1528|publisher=MoMA|accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref> the Whitney Museum of American Art,<ref>{{cite web|title=Whitney Museum of American Art : Artists in the collection|url=http://whitney.org/Collection/AllArtists|publisher=Whitney Museum of American Art|accessdate=20 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123020214/http://whitney.org/Collection/AllArtists|archive-date=23 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> SFMOMA,<ref>{{cite web|title=Scarface|url=http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/4393|publisher=SFMOMA|accessdate=20 January 2014|archive-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201105451/http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/4393|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name=ofelio/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalacademy.org/academicians/diao-david-v-na-elect-2012/ | title=National Academicians | publisher=National Academy | accessdate=20 January 2014}}</ref> He received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2015).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/recipients/david-diao|title=David Diao :: Foundation for Contemporary Arts|website=www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org|access-date=2018-04-19}}</ref>

Diao is currently represented by Greene Naftali, New York; Tanya Leighton, Berlin; and Office Baroque, Brussels.

==Past Shows== * Le Consortium, Thematic exhibition, ''New York : The Eighties ; part two (extended version)'', France, Dijon, 07 Jan - 25 April 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New York: The Eighties; Part Two (extended version)|url=https://www.leconsortium.fr/fr/new-york-eighties-part-two-extended-version|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129074228/https://www.leconsortium.fr/fr/new-york-eighties-part-two-extended-version |archive-date=2020-11-29 }}</ref> *Le Consortium, Thematic exhibition, ''New York: The 1980s; part two,'' France, Dijon, 26 Oct 2019 - 04 Oct 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New York: The 1980s; Part II|url=https://www.leconsortium.fr/en/new-york-1980s-part-ii|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020201242/https://www.leconsortium.fr/en/new-york-1980s-part-ii |archive-date=2020-10-20 }}</ref> *ShanghART Gallery, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Beijing, China, May 24 - Jul 24 2018. * Postmasters gallery, "ALT-FACTS", NY, Jul 17 - Jul 29 2017. * Postmasters gallery, DAVID DIAO - Hong Kong Boyhood, NY, Feb 17 - Mar 11 2017. * UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, David Diao, Beijing, China, Sep 19 - Oct 15 2015. * Minus Space, Nov 1 - Dec 20 2014. * Whitney Museum of American Art, 2014 Whitney Biennial, NY, Mar 7 - May 25, 2014. * Postmasters gallery, DAVID DIAO - TMI, NY, Mar 23 - Apr 27 2013<ref name="Diao on Artsy"/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://bombmagazine.org/article/7067825/david-diao David Diao by Matthew Deleget] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151108024136/http://bombmagazine.org/article/7067825/david-diao |date=2015-11-08 }} ''Bomb''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diao, David}} Category:Living people Category:American artists of Chinese descent Category:American contemporary painters Category:20th-century American painters Category:21st-century American painters Category:1943 births Category:American abstract painters Category:People from Chengdu Category:Kenyon College alumni Category:Hampshire College faculty