Phyllis Yao prioritizes process over quantity, exploring a multitude of ways to make a painting: drawing, layering, dripping, and rendering. While her paintings explore a range of imagery (the inside of a faculty lounge, a Greek bust, a doll house) and technique, her ideas all originate from close observations, personal relationships, and a desire to make connections. It is often quotidian occurrences that inspire her paintings.
Phyllis Yao was born in 1994 in Queens, NY. She holds a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her solo exhibition include Un Sospiro at Alice Amati (London, UK) in 2025 and Where is this hope on Earth? at MARCH (New York, NY) in 2023. She has previously exhibited at the Chinese American Arts Council (CAAC)/Gallery 456 (New York, NY), Hales Gallery (New York, NY), and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery (New York NY), among others. She has been an artist-in-residence at Lijiang Studio (Yunnan Province, China), Shandaken: Storm King (New Windsor, NY), and Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program (Brooklyn, NY). She has worked with MARCH since 2023.