Michael Mao was born in 1963 in Shanghai, China. He began teaching himself drawing and painting at the young age of seven. He also learned painting through many workshops during the weekends when he was in middle school and high school. After graduated from Tongji University, one of the most prestigious architecture schools in China, Michael did many architectural renderings while working as an instructor in School of Architecture and Urban Design at Tongji University. In 1992, Michael moved to the United States to advance his architecture career by pursuing his Master of Architecture at University of Texas at Arlington. While working as full-time architect, he was fascinated by 3D computer graphics and animations. Michael quitted his architect job and went to pursuing his Master of Science in Visualization at Texas A&M University in 1997. Because of his traditional painting skill and computer graphics knowledge, he was hired as a Matte Painting Technical Director for Oscar winning film "Shrek" at PDI/DreamWorks. Michael is currently working as a leading visual designer at IBM Silicon Valley Lab. Michael's paintings display an artistic mastery of color, lighting, perspective, technique, and vision. His paintings cover subject matter ranging from landscape, portraits, and figures. Lately, Michael became inspired by the beautiful nudes behind the shower glass with water and steam. Michael's painting has exhibited in the 14th National Juried Exhibition of Oil Painters of America, and won the Award of Excellence in 2005 Western Regional Juried Exhibition.

"Painting is an art of visual game. The more the viewers take part in this visual game, the more they will appreciate the artist's work. I want to invite the viewers to anticipate the visual game through their observation and imagination, and experience the same joy I feel during my creation."

Awards / Credit:
2006, Finalist of 23rd Annual Artist's Magazine competition, "Figurative and Portrait" category
2006, "Honorable Mention," Salon International 2006, International Museum of Contemporary Masters, Greenhouse Gallery
2006, "Jury's Top 50," Salon International 2006, International Museum of Contemporary Masters, Greenhouse Gallery
2006, "Award of Excellence," Oil Painters of America, 15th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils
2005, "Award of Excellence," Oil Painters of America, Western Regional Exhibition
2005, "Second Prize of Oil Painting," Parkhurst Art Galleries' nautical theme competition
2004, Award of Distinguished Technical Communication, STC, 2003-2004 Online Communication Competition
2001, Best Animated Feature Film for Oscar, "Shrek", PDI/DreamWorks
1998, "The Hidden Truth", was selected for inclusion in the SIGGRAPH 98 Computer Animation Festival program
1996, Faculty Citation of Merit awarded upon graduation in recognition of a record of superior academic achievement
1995, Best of Show in Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition, American Institute of Architecture, Dallas

Exhibitions / Shows
2006, Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Lee Youngman Gallery, Calistoga, California
2006, Salon International 2006, International Museum of Contemporary Masters, Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
2006, 15th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oil Paintings, Dana Gallery, Missoula, Montana
2006, Figures Group Show, Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2005, Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2005, 14th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oil Paintings, Hilligoss Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
2005, 2nd Annual National Juried Figure Exhibition, Red Dot Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico