After studying philosophy and focusing on the texts of Ludwig Wittgenstein at the University of Chicago, James Kao worked as a Bakery Buyer for a specialty foods retail chain in southern California. In 2001, James forwent his corporate career and returned to Chicago to take classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received an MFA from the Painting and Drawing Department. James Kao was born in 1975 and works, teaches, and lives in Chicago, Illinois.