It’s not difficult to see the importance of raising and implementing a conception in Zhao Yao’s creation. The repeated speculation ultimately controls the emotional elements in the work and provides it with a quality of calmness. This is especially outstanding in “Quietness” and “Smile”. From the initial sensitiveness of photography to the consistent attempt of using new materials and media later on, Zhao Yao’s form practice has kept on deepening. Repetition, appropriation and stuffing are the key words of his practice. The statement about repetition is clearly presented in “10,000 Times” and “Once Each Day”, etc. This kind of repetition covers time, action and the emphasis of a kind of status; but when the same statement appears in “Window” and “I Love Beijing”, etc, it cares more about social and political topics. The concept of appropriation does the deed in the space, in a strange environment: in “From the Interior”, a mutated monster intrudes into the vision and produces a feeling of strangeness and discomfort. Stuffing is appointed by Zhao Yao as the medium between people and objects. In “It”, it appears in a look that is similar to “Mental Sculpture” and enlarges the indiscriminate acquirement of daily experiences. It’s hard to find his track from his thought of creation, materials or targets. But we can see clearly that from the photography in 2006 until now, Zhao Yao has more and more taken the exploration of form as the exit of some sort of proper dialogue.

(Zhang Xiyuan, Workshop: Zhao Yao – No. 5 Issue of Contemporary Art and Investment, 2011[Excerpt])