April 2023
INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION
Sarah Nguyen
ARTIST STATEMENT
This body of work plays with the idea of art as an ongoing conversation with posterity in which artifacts of the past are painted over, yet traces of the original art remain—and using the cave-dweller as a metaphor for the fundamental human condition: forever shrouded in darkness and uncertainty, yet determined to leave our own visions upon the walls of the cave. We are story makers and shadow watchers.
My work evokes memory, play, ritual, the dissolving boundaries of waking life and dreams. I use a balance of abstract and representational forms in order to sever the connection between shape and meaning, connecting the viewer instead to the gesture of the brush or cut of the knife, so that s/he becomes complicit in the art. Folklore, reverence and refinement of nature, and observance of daily life, are the concepts behind my work. Each scroll is hand cut Tyvek, some measuring as large as 20ft long and 4ft wide. The work is suspended from the ceiling, away from the wall using fishing wire. I draw inspiration from my heritage of traditional Jewish paper cuts. Jewish art reveals universal elements in its visual representation of animals. Using folklore as the source of my artistic inspiration I mean to return the viewer temporarily to a state of childhood, dwelling in the senses, immersed in the images of stories, experiencing the primacy of the physical. Whether the viewer, when they turn away from the paper scrolls, seeks
mental liberation, or sensory indulgence, is a matter of significance for them. I am less
interested in directing their conclusions as I am in revealing them. The desired effect of this body of work upon the viewer is self-investigation.
INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION
Sarah Nguyen
ARTIST STATEMENT
This body of work plays with the idea of art as an ongoing conversation with posterity in which artifacts of the past are painted over, yet traces of the original art remain—and using the cave-dweller as a metaphor for the fundamental human condition: forever shrouded in darkness and uncertainty, yet determined to leave our own visions upon the walls of the cave. We are story makers and shadow watchers.
My work evokes memory, play, ritual, the dissolving boundaries of waking life and dreams. I use a balance of abstract and representational forms in order to sever the connection between shape and meaning, connecting the viewer instead to the gesture of the brush or cut of the knife, so that s/he becomes complicit in the art. Folklore, reverence and refinement of nature, and observance of daily life, are the concepts behind my work. Each scroll is hand cut Tyvek, some measuring as large as 20ft long and 4ft wide. The work is suspended from the ceiling, away from the wall using fishing wire. I draw inspiration from my heritage of traditional Jewish paper cuts. Jewish art reveals universal elements in its visual representation of animals. Using folklore as the source of my artistic inspiration I mean to return the viewer temporarily to a state of childhood, dwelling in the senses, immersed in the images of stories, experiencing the primacy of the physical. Whether the viewer, when they turn away from the paper scrolls, seeks
mental liberation, or sensory indulgence, is a matter of significance for them. I am less
interested in directing their conclusions as I am in revealing them. The desired effect of this body of work upon the viewer is self-investigation.
Sarah Nguyen is a mixed media artist, working primarily with paper. Storytelling is central to her hand cut-fiber panels and paintings. Her work has appeared in numerous national and international solo and group exhibitions and publications. Her work has been part of exhibitions in museums and festivals including (but not limited to) Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum of Asian Pacific Experience, the Daum Museum, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Grounds and Museum, the Truman Museum, and Kansas City’s 2018 Open Spaces. Sarah has worked as an Art Instructor for ten years at University of Central Missouri, teaching courses in Foundation, Design, Painting, and Illustration. She has taken part in a number of artist residencies from around the world as a visiting artist and teacher including Serbia, Bulgaria, Japan, and France, as well as the United States. In addition to teaching and exhibiting Sarah works as the Book Designer for Pleiades Press and Magazine and as Freelance Illustrator where you can find her work on book covers and children’s books. She is also the Art Installations Curator for the True/False Film Fest. Sarah received her BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA in Painting from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.