Christian Nguyen
The artist for today's blog goes by the alias of Christian Nguyen. He was born in 1968 at Saigon, Vietnam which was of course during the last 7 years of the Vietnam War. Since 1975, he lives in New York City. His main objective is to emphasize the many ways that space can be seen and used. What he means is that there's an understanding between the formal image (focusing on what's on the surface) and the perceptual image (Symbolizing the figurative context). Some of his drawings are produced threw layers of epoxy resin polished and smoothed by sandpaper and placed on top of each other. The transparent top layers force the pictures to work with and against each other to create a transition between the formal color dotted layers and the figurative graphite layers. Another theme found in his works is the use of architecture which was used to emphasize the concept of space and it shows. Some of his graduate rewards are invoked in the form of the 2000 Master of Fine Arts from the Hunter College, Graduate Program, the 1991 Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cooper Union, School of Art and the 1986 International Baccalaureate from the U. N. International School.
Here's one image of his works that can be found at the Drawing Center:
The image is called the Divan.
|
Graphite, epoxy resin and acrylic on panel |
2011 |
32" x 48" x 2" |
I chose this one because it associated very well with one of his methods of creating his form of art. So, why do I like this art piece to some extent? Well here's the thing, at first it is just a bunch of dots in a multitude of colors placed in a unique pattern. However, when you take a closer look at the image, you'll notice that there is some form of architecture in the picture which takes the picture's subtly to a whole new level, making the picture a bigger challenge to the viewer's eyes.
However some of his works also come in the form of this:

.
The image is known as obviously; the Three Staircases.
Charcoal and acrylic polymer on canvas |
2007 |
42" x 66" x 2" |
This image consists of the use of the horizon, the vanishing point, and of course the handling of spacing. Thanks to the details within the paper layer, the image looks very three dimensional. The other thing that I like about this drawing is that the image is layered in a very unique way as the paper is layered over the charcoal layer giving the picture a big sense of surrealism. As you might have guessed, Christian Nguyen's Three Staircases caught my attention the most compared to the Divan. That's not to say the Divan wasn't interesting in its own right, but the Three Staircases was what sold me to Christian Nguyen's creativity. I decided to include these two images because I want to emphasize the strangeness and creativity of Christian Nguyen's projects. So if you want to find more of his work, you can find it at the above link or at
http://www.re-title.com/artists/Christian-Nguyen.asp. So, enjoy looking Christian's surrealism and Good Day!