Gao Yutao

Born in Hunan in 1988. He currently lives and works in Shanghai. Yutao received his postgraduate degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, Germany in 2019, where he was awarded the title of Honorary Master-Student by Professor Katharina Fritch. Gao Yutao’s primary mediums encompass photography, video, installation, and performance. However, whether through motion pictures or still imagery, these works originate from memory, serve as a supplement from the past, and attempt to evoke certain emotions among the audience. Through mechanical tools such as scanners and cameras, the artist recodes memories of daily life, pierces through time to depict the irreproducibles, and thereby creates visionary images rooted in recollection. Gao Yutao reflects on the fact that technological tools such as cameras or screens have indeed expanded the capacity of human imagination, yet they have also opened up unfamiliar avenues of empathy through visual presentation. These visual prostheses are inherently far removed from the reality they seek to reproduce. Also the confusion between near and far, inside and outside, stillness and motion remains ever-present. Therefore, rather than demanding pictorial precision or rapid dissemination, the artist’s works focus on things that have faded from memory or become irreproducible. Regardless of whether they are obscured, partially focused, optically dragged, or distorted in his works, this operation of liberating the forms of objects is always generous. By disrupting memory and the established expressions of everyday perceptions, it ensures that the ceded space accommodates new environments and objects, granting them the power to speak for themselves. Consequently, the distortions in his works evoke a sense of astonishment brought about by speed and scale, aspiring to transform our archaic sentimentality and understanding of medium and dimension. Gao Yutao's works have been exhibited in important art institutions in China and European: including Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival 'Discovery Award'; Hangar Art Center, Belgium; K21 Art Museum, Düsseldorf; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Kunstmuseum Solingen; Grand Palais, Paris; and JiuShi Art Museum, Shanghai etc. In 2023, Top20 Chinese Contemporary Photography, In 2022, he was selected in the Prize photo brussels festival 06th . In year 2019 he was nominated of 73rd Internationale Bergische Kunstausstellung at the Museum Solingen and 2016 was nominated for Three Shadows Photography Award at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre Beijing.