Audrey Ou’s Trailblazing Work at TRLab
Audrey Ou is an excellent example of an entrepreneur who has successfully turned her passion for art and technology into a thriving business. She was involved in the founding idea of TRLab and ended up becoming its CEO. Her path has also been boosted by her outstanding academic background.
Ou was raised in Hong Kong where her parents encouraged hard work and perseverance. This background ultimately brought Ou to New York, where she graduated with a Master’s in Applied Analytics from Columbia University. She never lost her love of art, and with Xin Li-Cohen, she ended up working on TRLab, a platform for collecting art in the form of NFTs.
NFTs are digital assets that verify ownership and authenticity using blockchain technology. Combining this technology with fine art allows artists to create innovative digital artworks that previously could not exist.
Ou has always been interested in bridging the finance, art, and technology gap. Fine art NFTs became an interesting intersection for her to examine. While working on her degree at Princeton University, where she earned an AB degree in History, Ou served as President of the Princeton Moneythink Non-Profit Organization. As part of her duties, Ou organized weekly classes on entrepreneurship and financial literacy for prison inmates, coaching them on using technology to reach their financial and business goals. At the same time that Ou was guiding others on financial literacy, she was also working as a student tour guide at the Princeton Art Museum, leading guided tours. Art is in her blood.
Audrey Ou, along with Xin Li-Cohen, saw an opportunity to create digital-centric approaches to learning about and experiencing fine art on the blockchain. TRLab has accomplished this by working with artists, artist foundations, and institutions to wrap the collecting experience in an interactive, educational digital journey.
Since its founding, TRLab has collaborated with many artists: Cai Guo-Qiang, a renowned Chinese contemporary artist, and the Calder Foundation, representing the works of Alexander Calder, a renowned sculptor and artist.
Cai’s collaboration, titled Transient Eternity – 101 Ignitions of Gunpowder Paintings, was based on a previous work, Individual’s Journey Through Western Art History. The NFT project was in honor of the launch of Rockbund Art Museum’s new digital platform, RAM+. The NFT was a successful celebration of Cai’s gunpowder paintings.
For the collaboration with the Calder Foundation in 2022, TRLab collaborated with digital artist Raoul Marks (represented by Triple X) to bring Calder’s iconic mobile sculptures into NFTs, aiming to deepen Calder’s legacy and to ensure their cultural significance in the digital age.
Through her work with TRLab, Ou hopes to make a positive impact on society, which begins with creating opportunities for artists to reach a global audience through a fusion of art and digital technology. Fine art NFTs transform the traditional fine art experience and invite generations of art patrons into the global art community. With its mission, TRLab has garnered enthusiasm and support from investors.
Audrey Ou has experimented with a new way of art collecting through her use of blockchain technology at TRLab. Her efforts have opened up new opportunities for artists and collectors alike, bringing about an exciting new way to think about accessibility in the art market.
About the Author
Jerrod Callahan has a passion for art history and loves sharing this passion with readers as a freelance writer. He lives in Baltimore with his wife and children.
Published by: Holy Minoza
