Michael Gao (b. 2002, Beijing, China) is a painter living and working in London. He explores social dynamics, identity, violence and desire, placing these themes in the ever-changing context of contemporary visual culture. Gao casts domesticated animals as a counterpoint to human tension — a figure of primal detachment amid socially coded behaviour. He uses fine airbrush techniques combined with loose oil brushstrokes to create realistic yet surreal compositions, flattening the space to evoke a sense of claustrophobia. With the subtle staging of dominance, threat, or exclusion, Gao subverts the expectation of violence and instead uses the animal as a strange mirror: instinctively present, yet curiously disconnected from the drama we choreograph around it.
Using animal and human imagery, Gao reimagines carnival as a post-internet space. This setting further deepens the contrast between reality and fantasy, the familiar and the alien. In this series of works, the carnival world becomes a lens to explore how desire has become performative and ritualistic in the Internet age - it can both connect people and isolate them, both elevate and constrain them.
Michael Gao has recently completed a MA in painting from Royal College of Art in 2025, after studying at Edinburgh College of Art (2020-2024). Gao has recently exhibited with Tiderip Gallery (London, UK), TUESDAY to FRIDAY (Valencia, Spain), Mandy Zhang Gallery (London, UK), OHSH Projects (London, UK), Simulacra Gallery (Beijing, China), and a solo exhibition with TUESDAY to FRIDAY (Valencia, Spain)
Education
2024-2025 Royal College of Art, MA Painting
2020-2024 University of Edinburgh, BA (Hons) Painting
Solo Exhibition
2025 Full Moons, Tuesday to Friday, Valencia, Spain
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Real Artist Sweat, Tiderip, London, UK
2025 Where the Wild Things Are, Mandy Zhang Gallery, London, UK
2025 Nice to See You / Hope to See You Again, Tuesday to Friday, Valencia, Spain
2025 Pedigree, OHSH Projects, London, UK
2025 Michael Gao, Liang Zou, Yuang Zhang, Pan Kecheng, Simulacra Gallery, China
2025 Royal College of Art Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2025 Earthly Bodies, Then and Now, BWG Gallery, London, UK
2024 Kingdom, Tuesday to Friday Gallery, Valencia, Spain
2024 On Loose Terms, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
2023 Blue Light, The Cyrus Collective, New York City, US
Press
2025 Michael Gao transforms furry culture with sincerity and horror, It’s Nice That
2023 Michael Gao on His Art Journey, Life in Edinburgh, Influences, Gaming and Favorite Things, Overstandard
2023 Michael Gao, London Paint Club
2023 In the Studio with Michael Gao, Auc Art
