Once upon a time

Originally from Beijing, Chinese artist Frankie Gao was born in 1983. She studied at the College of Fine Arts of the Capital Normal University in Beijing, with an MA in Chinese Ink Painting and at the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen (The Netherlands) from 2008 to 2010.

In 2009 Gao spent one year in New York at the Fine Art Department at Hunter College. Since then the artist has been shown in numerous international exhibitions, and was nominated for several art prices, among them the Kahnweiler Price and the Derwent Art Price (London, UK). Her work can be found in public and private collections.

With her fine drawings in pencil and charcoal, Frankie Gao is making visible her sensitivity for the beauty of nature. She has a kind of philosophical view of the of the world and the universe. Constellations of planets and stars, abstract patterns that can be found in the surface of water or ice, as well as geometrical shapes and architecture are being connected with each other and form a new perspective onto the world we live in.