Thao Uyen Chau is a digital media artist. She chooses to pursue the digital medium because she wants to leave her mark in the upcoming era, where the digital realm is expected to operate simultaneously with reality. Her generation was born and raised within the dominance of technology, so she would like to acquire new and profound knowledge of the upcoming era to understand its impact and navigate through its consequences. Since the virtual world is depicted through the lens of perfection and utopia, it will have an irresistible attraction compared to the real world that faces challenges and responsibilities, which cannot be ignored. Therefore, Thao blends reality into the virtual world by depicting stories and events of real life in her digital artworks. The digital world allows her to turn the mundane into dynamic expressions and scenes using vibrant patterns, bright colors, and distinctive perspectives. While the real world restricts artistic imagination because of the limitations in engineering or physics, the virtual world bends reality into something surreal. Thao’s artworks take advantage of digital media to create elements of surrealism to enhance and elevate the normal into abnormal and remind us that surrealism of the digital world is inspired and originates from the real world. In addition to working in digital media, Thao has created works in print and sculpture.
Thao is currently pursuing a BFA program in Digital Media Art at San Jose State University. She is in her fourth year at the university and will be graduating in Spring 2023. Her works were chosen to display at a San Jose State University’s gallery, and one of her woodcut prints won the President Art Award at Diablo Valley College and was bought by the school to display for their permanent art collection. Before completely committing her practice to art, specifically digital media art, Thao was a self-taught graphic designer for a few years when she lived in Vietnam. She was employed as a graphic designer at TiKi, a pioneer company in e-commerce in Vietnam, and Grab, Southeast Asia's leading super app. After residing in the United States, Thao shifted her focus from graphic design to creating art and exploring the digital realm.
thaouyenula@gmail.com