An Artist Who Matters: Hung Viet Nguyen Coming to Matter Gallery

Posted on by Diversions LA

Opening December 8th at Matter Gallery in mid-city, Hung Viet Nguyen’s Chances Matter is a dazzling new body of work,  his first in which the human figure plays a central part in his highly textured, immersive landscapes. The exhibition marks a new direction for the artist. While continuing his masterful work in oil and palette knife, building up and manipulating his paint as if sculpting it, he now paints human subjects with a greater emphasis. The new prominence of humans speaks to both our coexistence in and joy of nature, but also to our effect upon it, from climate change to a self-absorption with our cell phones that may preclude the ability to be one with the natural environment around us.

When adding the human figure into the pristine yet entirely alive natural landscapes that he paints, Nguyen reveals that he’s not judging the intervention of humans – that judgment resides with viewers. He fully embraces the idea that while we can never regret experiencing beauty, we cannot control the outcome of our experience of it, one which affects not only us personally, but nature itself.

In “Hot Springs Bathers,” the human figures remain oblivious to jet trails in the sky that could represent wildly increased travel or an on-coming war. Above these floats what could be another view of the earth as if seen from a 360-degree perspective looking backwards, or another planet falling from the sky, also blissfully ignored by the human figures below.  Startlingly vivid colors and the dichotomy of tranquility with possibly ominous outcomes creates a visceral tension in the work.

Likewise, Nguyen’s “Tomorrow Won’t Be the Same,” above, fully embraces a belief he expresses that change will come, regardless of the hour, for good or ill. Here we see viewers taking a selfie in front of a beautiful waterfall, obliviously standing near a growing crack in the ground.

“Eclipse” shows the sun nearly fully occluded by the moon, leaving a stunning Ring of Fire. Below this astonishing spectacle, two women and a man, mostly naked, relax on the grass, cell phones in hand, small parts of the cosmic show.

 

In “Self-Baptism,” the human figure is what draws the viewer most fully. This figure wears a blue scarf as she enters the water of a flower-ringed, steaming spring. 

Although many settings in Nguyen’s new series are inspired by locations such as Iceland and the greater Mammoth Lakes area, “Journey Through Dry Lake” was inspired by the desert terrain of the Salton Sea. Here the human subject is carrying a boat across a dry lakebed speckled with dead fish; the artist’s “Contemplating,” below, reveals a man holding a stick against his shoulders behind his head, a position of relaxation that also recalls the crucifixion; sacrifice and acceptance in this pose.

While each of the above works are large, there are a range of smaller artworks as well, many featuring Nguyen’s arched gates, waterfalls, and snowy mountains, each perfectly rendered. He is also including a series of images created in tins, displayed as if they were open lockets; many which feature more of this evocative human subjects.

Do be sure to catch this meaningful show – your chance to see it matters!

Matter Studio Gallery is located at 5080 W. Pico Boulevard LA, CA 90019. The exhibition will be up through January the 5th.
Opening reception: December 8, 2024 4-8 PM; artist talk December 22, 2024 2-4 PM; closing reecption January 5, 2025 4-6 PM
The regular hours for tis show are Friday 4-6 PM; Saturday and Sunday 12-6 PM; also available for viewing by appointment.

  • Genie Davis; photos – Genie Davis and as provided by the artist

 

Some Matters are Sacred – Hung Viet Nguyen at Matter Gallery

Posted on by Diversions LA

How to describe the work of artist Hung Viet Nguyen? It exudes peace and yet it’s vibrant; it’s meditative and exciting; it pulses with color and texture while exploring natural beauty; it’s resonant of place, yet reminiscent of a world beyond and within our own.

Watching Nguyen’s work over the last decade, he’s evolved into an ever more masterful artist, while maintaining his sense of innocent wonder and sheer delight. Of course, there are darker moments in his work as well, but on the whole, this current body of work, Sacred Matter, now at Matter Gallery in mid-city, is an expression of pure joy. You cannot experience one of his highly detailed landscapes without feeling uplifted.

His latest two series, Sacred Landscape V and Sacred Landscape VI are filled with depth and longing, a pure and transformative travel to a location Nguyen has experienced and wishes to keep present in his heart – as well as that of the viewer.

The show is rich with lovely, fresh work, with pieces culled from Sacred Landscapes III and IV along with the more predominant, recent series. Among my favorites in this exhibition are “Sacred Landscape V #63,” in which a field of golden flowers in the foreground is balanced by what look like glacial mountains across an aqua body of water – a landscape that reminds me of Iceland; and the desert hills landscape behind another field of flowers, these in orange and dark red of “Sacred Landscape VI #5.”

Both may be favorites because they recall locations special to me, or it may be the contrast between floral blooms and rugged mountains.

The vast expanse of “Sacred Landscape V #57” dazzles with waterfalls, volcanos, ocean waters, glaciers, icy bays, flowering trees, a mysterious orange sky, and floating bits of pink clouds.

This is a painting a viewer could study for days, immersing themselves in landscape and form, in the depths of the sea and waterfalls, finding the small, happy figures of swimming humans, watching the small ice masses bobbing on the more distant, obviously colder sea.

There are a number of “Gate” paintings within the works on display. The mosaic-like cavern entrance under a glowing, molten sky in “Gate #1, Sacred Landscape VI #7” in one such work; a diminutive but powerful 12” by 12.”  “Gate #3 Sacred Landscape VI #11” is a considerably larger canvas, with the moon rising behind the gate against a blue-black night sky, and the hills around the gate revealing ribbons of streams and rivers traversing their sides. “Gate #2, Sacred Landscape VI #10, “with the large, scored boulders on either side of it, feels most like a portal, to another dimension, or a new view of our own, or perhaps, a celestial paradise. The gate may be narrow, but strive to enter here.

Newer among Nguyen’s subject matter are night skies, and one stellar example here is the star-speckled navy-black sky reflecting into a far lighter blue, crystalline pool in (first of two images, below) “Sacred Landscape V #22.” Both the stars and a large rock in the center of the water reflect into the clear depths, while the land around it looks like a quilted or mosaic landscape of plants or farms or colorful homes as if viewed from a great distance above. It is easy to sense a grand and peaceful view of our world as seen floating above it in the profound stillness – and yes, sacredness of Nguyen’s art.

Using a palette knife to build up and manipulate his use of oil paint into textures and patterns, Nguyen works spontaneously he says, and while his subjects – his sacred landscapes – may stay the same over time, the colors and compositions vary from bright to pastel, to grays and saturated. His movements and special techniques are evolving as does his palette.

And whatever direction his art may take, whether depicting drifting bits of fog, narrow crevices, or the pink downward curves of a vulvic-like volcano, Nguyen amazes and enchants with a thrillingly original universe comprised of strange yet recognizable beauty.

The exhibition runs through April 2nd; artist talk at the gallery March 19, 2-4.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis