KENNY NGUYEN
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UTOPIA SERIES, 2016

Artist Statement 


My work explores identity and cultural displacement using my own history as a vehicle. Painting has become a venue in which to communicate my experiences of moving. I realize that migration has completely changed my life, forming many blank spaces in my soul that I could never fill up. My identity is "broken apart" and left in pieces as a result of “placeless-ness”. Bringing that concept into my painting, I use the canvas as a platform, reconstructing my identity through marks, brushstrokes, texture and colors. My paintings are an imaginary place where I explore and define myself without any limits. That imaginary place is also where two cultures come together and interweave, merge, and sometimes clash.
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My paintings connect past and present, Eastern and Western, traditional and contemporary. I investigate identity as a means to finding a balance between cultural beliefs and values in life. I am inspired by the unusual orientation and format of historic Chinese painting. I also carry into my studio practice traditional Eastern ink wash painting and calligraphy. Moving away from representation toward abstraction, I’ve created a transitional zone in which to express my emotions and house the metaphor for my identity. Figurative images are removed and replaced by the blank canvas suggesting the idea of visible and invisible, everything and nothing.

Mapping the void (triptych),, mixed media on canvas, 36 x 36”
Into the void, acrylic on silk, 36 x 36”
Utopia III, acrylic, oil, ink on canvas, 80 x 80”
Utopia III (detail), acrylic, oil, ink on canvas, 80 x 80”
Utopia III (detail), acrylic, oil, ink on canvas, 80 x 80”
Utopia III (detail), acrylic, oil, ink on canvas, 80 x 80”
Utopia III (detail), acrylic, oil, ink on canvas, 80 x 80”
Flows (triptych), acrylic and sculpted silk on canvas, 36 x 48”
Flows (details), acrylic and sculpted silk on canvas, 36 x 48”
Flows (details), acrylic and sculpted silk on canvas, 36 x 48”
Otherness, mixed media on canvas, 24 x 20”, (SOLD)
Heterotopia (triptych), mixed media on canvas, 40 x 90”
Utopia I (sixtych), mixed media on canvas, 30 x 72”
Utopia II, acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Utopia II (details), acrylic and ink on paper, 48 x 135”
Flying strokes, mixed media on canvas, 40 x 30”, (SOLD)
Utopia IV, mixed media on canvas, 40 x 30”, (SOLD)
2016, Installation: Floating Homeland
CONTACT INFORMATION
 

Kenny Nguyen
Charlotte, NC 
(704) 491 9968
kennynguyenartist@gmail.com




All images are copyrighted © by Kenny Nguyen . The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission from the artist is obtained.
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  • PRESS
  • CV
  • BIOGRAPHY
  • ARTIST STATEMENT
  • ARTWORK
  • Contact
  • DOCUMENTARY
  • FUSE PROJECT
  • AIR Guiniguada