Yowshien Kuo

Yowshien Kuo is a multidisciplinary artist currently residing in St. Louis. Kuo expressed an interest in the visual arts at the onset of his youth. This came as no surprise as earlier generations of his family had previously established careers in the arts. His attention to the arts was nurtured and supported by his parents. As a result, artistic training was swiftly woven into his education, growing up between the American Midwest and Taiwan. Straddling two cultures, orbiting between one world and another, permeated the deeper recesses of what would inform his artistic language. Quoting the thinker and writer W.E.B. DuBois, “One ever feels his two-ness, – an American…” He blends his personal experiences as a Taiwanese American with historical references and criticism to comment on social and racial inequality, cultural constructs, sexuality, and the human condition.

Kuo earned his Master of Fine Arts from Fontbonne University in 2014 and has exhibited at The Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, including the Teen Museum Studies Gallery and as a recipient of the 2022 Great Rivers Biennial Award. His work belongs to collections at the Cantor Arts Museum at Stanford University and the Dallas Museum of Art. His work was exhibited at The Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona in 2022 and The Bates Museum of Art in Maine in 2024. His work has been featured on the cover of New American Paintings and has appeared on Sound and Vision Podcast and Yale University Radio.