ENGLISH
Photograph by Rusty Williams |
Kenny Nguyen (b. 1990, Ben Tre Province, Vietnam) creates expansive, dimensional, mixed-media paintings that center on ideas of cultural identity, displacement and integration.
Nguyen grew up on a coconut farm in a rural area near the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. Despite having an established career in fashion design, he decided to join his family when they moved to the United States in 2010. Acclimating to an American way of life proved uneasy at first, especially with a language barrier that intensified feelings of alienation and isolation. Nguyen turned to art-making as a coping mechanism and as a means to express himself in a more universal language. The transition from design to art was a natural one and in 2015 Nguyen earned a BFA in painting from the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and subsequently established a studio in Charlotte. Drawing from his experience working with textiles, in particular, silk, a culturally significant material in Vietnam, Nguyen developed a distinctive technique to produce sensual, three-dimensional works that he describes as “deconstructed paintings.” He begins by tearing swaths of silk fabric into hundreds of strips that he dips in acrylic paint and adheres to raw canvas. Methodically, almost meditatively, he repeats the process—tearing, painting, sanding, sewing, weaving, attaching, layering—until he has a structured but malleable medium, which he shapes into undulating, sculpted forms. Nguyen’s paintings are often affixed to the wall with pushpins, allowing him the flexibility to rehang or adjust the composition as desired. The works can be stretched flat like a traditional canvas or gently draped, folded and creased into animated structures that unfurl along the wall and pool at the floor. Each installation is unique. |
In some ways, Nguyen’s approach of deconstruction and reconstruction is akin to the experience of growing into his identity as Vietnamese American and as an artist. His use of silk, which remains the primary material in his practice, has evolved alongside him. Where he once chose it for its splendor and sense of familiarity, through a rigorous process of transformation, it now holds greater meaning for the artist: “For me, silk has become the connector tying both cultures together.”
Nguyen has participated in exhibitions across the globe, including at the Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul; CICA Museum (Czong Institute for Contemporary Art), Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Korea; Kunstwerk Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf, Germany; LaGrange Art Museum, Georgia; Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Florida; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, California; and The Rayburn House Office Building, United States Capitol Complex, Washington, DC. In 2024, Nguyen’s work was the subject of the solo exhibition Kenny Nguyen: Adaptations at the Mint Museum in Charlotte.
In 2016, Nguyen received the Excellence Asia Contemporary Young Artist Award from Sejong Museum of Art; in 2023, a nomination for the Joan Mitchell Fellowship; and in 2024, Asian Art in London’s Modern & Contemporary Art Award for a work from his Eruption series. He has been awarded numerous grants, fellowships and residencies.
Nguyen has participated in exhibitions across the globe, including at the Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul; CICA Museum (Czong Institute for Contemporary Art), Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Korea; Kunstwerk Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf, Germany; LaGrange Art Museum, Georgia; Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Florida; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, California; and The Rayburn House Office Building, United States Capitol Complex, Washington, DC. In 2024, Nguyen’s work was the subject of the solo exhibition Kenny Nguyen: Adaptations at the Mint Museum in Charlotte.
In 2016, Nguyen received the Excellence Asia Contemporary Young Artist Award from Sejong Museum of Art; in 2023, a nomination for the Joan Mitchell Fellowship; and in 2024, Asian Art in London’s Modern & Contemporary Art Award for a work from his Eruption series. He has been awarded numerous grants, fellowships and residencies.
VIETNAMESE
Hoạ sĩ Quốc Trung Kenny Nguyễn sinh ra và lớn lên ở miền Nam Việt Nam. Anh cùng gia đình sang Mỹ định cư khi đang theo đuổi giấc mơ trở thành một nhà thiết kế thời trang tại Việt Nam. Sang Mỹ, Kenny tiếp tục theo đuổi giấc mơ nghệ thuật của mình tại trường Đại học Bắc Carolina ở Charlotte. Anh tốt nghiệp cử nhân ngành hội hoạ năm 2016 . Những tác phẩm nghệ thuật của anh thường dựa trên các trải nghiệm sâu sắc để khám phá về bản sắc cá nhân và sự chuyển đổi văn hóa. Kenny Nguyễn đã trưng bày các tác phẩm của mình trong nhiều triển lãm nhóm và cá nhân tại Hoa Kỳ, Nhật Bản, Hàn Quốc, Pháp, Iceland. Năm 2016, anh nhận được giải thưởng Xuất sắc cho Nghệ sĩ trẻ đương đại châu Á tại Bảo tàng Nghệ thuật Sejong, Seoul, Hàn Quốc. Các triển lãm cá nhân tiêu biểu nhất của Kenny Nguyễn phải kể đến 'Những nỗi sợ hãi không tưởng' (The indescribable fears) được trưng bày tại Viện bảo tàng nghệ thuật đương đại Czong , Hàn Quốc, ' Đan xen' (Interwoven) tại phòng tranh Sozo, Charlotte và gần đây nhất là 'Tái tạo' (Reconstruction) tại trường đại học Adam State, Colorado. Hiện tại, Kenny Nguyễn sống và làm việc tại thành phố Charlotte, tiểu bang Bắc Carolina, Hoa Kỳ.
| kenny_nguyen_biography_2024.pdf |