Welcome to StudioYAU | Visual Arts site of Joel Yau

A successful commercial artist, Joel Yau brings to his visual arts a wealth of knowledge and a curiosity to explore new ground. He is accomplished working with oils, acrylics and chalk pastels and most recently in ceramics. Though the subject and medium may vary Joel’s well-honed skills as a draftsman and designer are evident in all of his work.

“I’ve always been inspired by artists who use free expressive marks to create structure. I love John Singer Sargent’s seemingly effortless technique and fresh approach to paint, Diebenkorn’s sense of color and bold design and Gustav Klimt’s sensitivity to line.” Since Joel’s work is informed by so many of the masters, his standards are indeed very high.

Since 1997, Joel has been invited to participate in street painting festivals in major cities in North and Central America, Europe and Asia. These festivals allow him to create large format reproductions in 2D as well as 3D anamorphic designs. Some of his favorite subjects are pin-up portrait illustrations from the 40’s and 50’s by artists like Walter Bomar and Gil Elvgren. His skilled hands, outgoing personality and love of this ephemeral art have made Joel a very successful chalk muralist and his work in this arena has won many accolades and awards.

Joel has a degree in Illustration from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and Visual Communications in Advertising from the University of the Philippines. He is a professional Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Art Director who lives in beautiful Marin County just a few miles north of San Francisco.