The Artist

1971 Ha Tay Vietnam

Nguyen Quang Huy was born in Ha Tay, Vietnam in 1971. He studied painting at the Vietnam Fine Arts University Hanoi and received a B.A. in 1996. Since graduating, he has participated in international residency programs and has exhibited his work in France, Germany, Thailand, Singapore and the United States. Huy is one of the triad of artists, Nguyen Quang Huy, Nguyen Minh Thanh, Nguyen Van Cuong who received international attention in the late 90’s shortly after they graduated, exhibiting as a triad in Japan, Germany the USA and elsewhere.

Dominant works of Nguyen Quang Huy are his Indochina Girl portrait series of women who have left powerful, lasting impressions on his memory. Reminiscent of the work of Gerhard Richter, Huy combines photorealism with expressionist oil painting techniques to modernize what would be an otherwise traditional portrait study. The works are not sourced from projected photographs, but are Huy’s vivid recollection and memory of the girl’s faces. In this series one encounters styles from historical eras ranging from the late 1940s to the present day, from clothing and staging to manner of depiction. However, by blurring these images, his canvases are imbued with a truly timeless feel, one that celebrates the beauty of the Indochina girls from a nostalgic distance. Enhancing the subjects’ haunting remove, he has chosen to paint and blur all of the canvases with a deep blue tone. This simplified palette draws attention to the focused gaze between the viewer and subject.