Yeni Mao (b. 1971 Canada) is a Chinese-American sculptor based in Mexico City. He received a BFA from The School of Art Institute of Chicago, and subsequently trained in foundry work in California, and the architectural industries of New York. Mao is an under-recognised forebear of the current movement and recognition of Asian diasporic artists in the contemporary field.
Yeni Mao’s work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions. Most recently, Mao presented the solo exhibitions Freemartins curated by Essence Harden at Frieze Focus with Make Room LA, vol. 3: chimera at guadalajara90210 in Guadalajara, Yerba Mala at Campeche in Mexico City, I desire the strength of nine tigers at Fierman Gallery in New York, and a public sculpture with Brooke Benington in Canary Wharf, London. Among the many group exhibitions he has participated in are La Casa Erosionada at Museo Anahuacalli in Mexico City, Evening Shadow at Make Room in Los Angeles, Otrxs Mundxs at Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, The Disorganized Body at Zeller van Almsick in Vienna and The Hearing Trumpet at Galerie Marguo in Paris; and The IX Bienal De Artes Visuales Nicaraguenses in Nicaragua. Mao is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant 2021. Mao’s work has been written about in Art in America, The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Advocate, and The Village Voice. In the autumn of 2023 Brooke Benington will present his first solo exhibition with the gallery.
