My practice is an exploration of confusion. I am interested in confusion as a tense space for either radical thinking or complacency. I explore what this tension means to me, and what it could mean to my viewers, by creating stories realized in printmaking, painting, publishing, and happenings.
— Tammy Nguyen
Tammy Nguyen is a multimedia artist whose work spans painting, drawing, printmaking and book making. Intersecting geopolitical realities with fiction, her practice addresses lesser-known histories through a blend of myth and visual narrative. She is the founder of Passenger Pigeon Press, an independent press that joins the work of scientists, journalists, creative writers, and artists to create politically nuanced and cross-disciplinary projects.
Born in San Francisco, Nguyen received a BFA from Cooper Union in 2007. The year following, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study lacquer painting in Vietnam, where she remained and worked with a ceramics company for three years thereafter. Nguyen received an MFA from Yale in 2013 and was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship at Wave Hill in 2014 and a NYFA Fellowship in painting in 2021. She was included in Greater New York 2021 at MOMA PS1 and has also exhibited Smack Mellon, Rubin Museum, The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Vietnam, and the Bronx Museum, among others. Her work is included in the collections of Yale University, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, MIT Library, the Seattle Art Museum, the Walker Art Center Library, and the Museum of Modern Art Library, among others. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Wesleyan University.
Born in San Francisco, CA in 1984
Lives and works in New York City
Education
2013 |
MFA, Painting and Printmaking, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT |
2007 |
The Cooper Union School for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY |
Solo Exhibitions
2022 |
SEA Focus 2022, ‘Freehold,’ presented by Tropical Futures Institute, Singapore |
2021 |
Smack Mellon, ‘Freehold’, Brooklyn, USA |
Five Myles, ‘O, Two person exhibition with Thad Higa,’ curated by Marine Cournet, Brooklyn, USA |
|
2020 |
Hesse Flatow, ‘Cave Matter’, New York, USA |
Hunter Shaw Fine Art, ‘Facing New Axes, Two person exhibition with Adam deBoer’, Los Angeles, USA |
|
2019 |
Virginia Commonwealth University, ‘The Ship Named Atlast’, Richmond Virginia, USA |
2018 | CRUSH Curatorial, ‘One Blue Eye, Two Servings’, Two person exhibition with Nicole Won Hee Maloof, curated by Alison Karasyk, New York, USA |
2017 | The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, ‘How to Breathe in Selected Tropics, The Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection‘, Chicago, USA |
Ground Floor Gallery, ‘Primate City’, curated by Dexter Wimberly, Brooklyn, USA |
|
Château d’Ardelay, ‘Sortilège et diableries : l’inquiétant ordinaire’, Les Herbiers, France |
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Tammy NguyenDick, 2022Watercolor, pastel, vinyl paint, and metal leaf on paper stretched over panel
121.9 x 91.4 x 4.4 cm
48 x 36 x 1.75 in -
Tammy NguyenJack, 2022Watercolor, pastel, vinyl paint, and metal leaf on paper stretched over panel121.9 x 91.4 x 4.4 cm
48 x 36 x 1.75 in -
Tammy NguyenWatercolor, vinyl paint, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel76.2 x 61 cm
30 x 24 in -
Tammy NguyenApe, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, pastel, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel152.4 x 91.4 cm
60 x 36 in -
Tammy NguyenAs we swam out, the sun kissed our wet faces, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, pastel, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel50.8 x 40.6 cm
20 x 16 in -
Tammy NguyenMan, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, pastel, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel152.4 x 91.4 cm
60 x 36 in -
Tammy NguyenSeasons of Revolution 1, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, pastel, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel121.9 x 91.4 cm
48 x 36 in -
Tammy NguyenSeasons of Revolution 3, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, pastel, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel121.9 x 91.4 cm
48 x 36 in -
Tammy NguyenThree million tons of explosives were dropped, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel76.2 x 61 cm
30 x 24 in -
Tammy NguyenWoman, 2021Watercolor, vinyl paint, pastel, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel152.4 x 91.4 cm
60 x 36 in -
Tammy NguyenThe organisms around us had been dead for millions of years, 2020Watercolor, vinyl paint, and metal leaf on paper stretched over wood panel40.6 x 50.8 cm
16 x 20 in