Stevie Shao is Seattle’s breakout muralist

Since then, Shao has turned to this pack-a-punch style. In her work, negative space has shrunk to the point of horror vacui, and decorative flowers have become main characters alongside animals and birds. She’s also less and less afraid of using bright colors.

“When I started freelancing, I did a lot of monochrome work. Mostly black, white and gray and doing comics and stuff, ”says Shao in her studio. She points to a can of pink Pepto-Bismol paint that is next to the primed plywood. “When I was younger, as a girl, it wasn’t cool to… paint pink or purple,” she says.

At the same time, she has simplified her style by reducing three dimensions to one level, similar to the folk art, Chinese ceramics and traditional American tattoos (think: mermaids, anchors, panthers) that shape her approach to art. She often finds inspiration on the flash sheets in tattoo shops or on Instagram accounts that catalog traditional textiles from different regions of the world. “The way they are simplified is a sensibility that goes back to graphic design and illustration and finds different ways to pack the information into those little pods,” she says.

Shao also draws on research on ecosystems and animal species, as well as Chinese folklore and moral stories (Shao is Chinese-American) to educate the creatures she chooses to paint and mate. Take the tiger and phoenix from Hing Hay Park: “It alludes to a supernatural world. It’s heaven and earth, ”she says. “It’s a big topic in Chinese mythology.”