In The Backspace

thing-searcher

Tuan Nguyen

July 03 – August 02, 2014
Reception / Thursday, July 03, 6–8pm

Reflecting on the passage of time, place, and identity within the realm of the domestic, Nguyen deconstructs the elemental components of painting and drawing, reassembling them into sculptural forms that betray vestiges of their former origins. Bits and scraps of rejected paintings, sawdust from the studio, and leftover panel trimmings become abstract permutations, playful, childlike and operating as microcosms of a larger world. A simultaneous act of negation and affirmation, the works represent disruption, displacement, and transformation, reconfigured and rendered new again.

Tuan Nguyen is a painter, sculptor and Director of Education at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. His artwork has been exhibited nationally in venues in Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Seattle, WA and St. Louis. Nguyen received his MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Born in Vietnam and raised in Rockledge, FL, Nguyen currently lives and works in St. Louis.