Gao is a US Citizen living in New Jersey and working at her studio in New York City. She studied photography in Tokyo Japan at the Nihon Academy of Fine Art University and New York at the New York Film Academy. She practiced commercial and fashion photography while at the same time pursuing a career in Fine Art photography, combining Western and Eastern cultural elements demonstrate how the socio-political environment shapes cultural identity. The work examines cultural differences in a rapidly changing space-time, through photography. Gao tries to express the meeting and conflict between the cultures of East and West, contrasting new and old cultures, and exploring the relationship between identity, society, and environment. Recently her new work has focused on experimenting with mixed media in which images are transferred to different materials to create 3-dimensional pieces that bring the elements closer to the eye of the observer.

Gao’s most recent important exhibitions were at Paris Koh Fine Art in Fort Lee, NJ, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art in 2024 Taiwan, the Tainan Art Museum Taiwan in 2023, and Museo Marino Marini in Italy in 2019. Other activities include the National Museum of M.K. Ciurlionis Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania, and the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art in China. Her work has been the subject of frequent exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the US. Gao Yuan’s work was selected at the Hong Kong Sotheby’s auction “The Woman with Book”.

In 2023 she was in an artist residency on Governor’s Island New York City with the Taiwanese American Arts Council. She was awarded second place at the MATA Taiwan Indigenous Film Festival 2022, the Grand Prize at Kaunas Lithuania Biennial in 2014 and was awarded The TERNA Contemporary Art Prize in Italy in 2013.

Statement:

For many years, my work has centered on exploring the deep and complex relationship between people and their bodies. I see the body as our most primal and universal language, a living landscape of imagery that speaks across time, culture, and identity.

In my most recent series, I merge photography, abstract art, and video to push beyond traditional artistic boundaries. While these works are not classical sculptures, they take on a sculptural presence—blending photographic and three-dimensional elements into what I call photo sculptures. These hybrid forms exist at the intersection of image and object, collapsing the line between flat representation and physical space.

Each piece is an attempt to reimagine the body not only as subject, but as environment—interwoven with natural forms and textures. By fusing the tactile nature of sculpture with the narrative depth of photography, I create immersive works that invite viewers into an intimate and reflective dialogue with both the human form and the natural world.

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