David Diao

American, born in China, b. 1943

BiographyBorn Diāo Déqiān 刁德谦 in China in 1943, David Diao fled with his paternal grandparents to Hong Kong on the eve of the revolution in 1949. Diao’s mother and two younger siblings were unable to leave China and the family was separated for the next 30 years. His father was in the United States at the time, first as a student and later as an engineer, and Diao came to live with him in New York City in 1955.

After graduating from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 1964, Diao moved back to New York City and began painting seriously. Part-time work at art galleries and later at the Guggenheim Museum connected him to the art world of the era, and he initially became associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. While maintaining his roots in abstract painting throughout his career, Diao’s work evolved to include references to other painters as both homage and interrogation. He also incorporated elements of his own biography. Diao served on the faculty of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program from 1970 to 2000.