Thu Nguyen

About Artist:

I was born in Saigon, Vietnam. Being very shy, I spent much of my childhood hiding away in my bedroom painting, instead of playing with other children. My first brush with success was a Best of Show prize at the 1974 children's exhibition in Saigon sponsored by UNICEF. In 1975 Saigon fell and in the resulting confusion, I was separated from my parents. I ended up in a refugee camp near Hong Kong for a year prior to immigrating to the United States as an orphan. After one very snowy and cold winter in Pennsylvania, I went to Los Angeles to stay with some relatives.

After getting my art degree, I have since settled down to pursue my art career in Los Angeles, later Seattle and finally Hawaii with the big excitement being adopting my first daughter from China and my second daughter from Vietnam.

BFA in painting, California State University Long Beach.

Two grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation

Three grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation.

My work is represented in many public and private collections in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Mexico.

My work has been shown at: Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., Tacoma Art Museum, WA, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, Artist Naples, The Baker Museum, Naples, FL, Ackland Museum of Art, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC, Alexandria Museum of Art - Alexandria Louisiana, Yellowstone Art Museum - Billings Montana, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM.

About Artwork:

This is an original painting. It is oil and gold leaf on canvas, image size: 30 x 40 inches, framed. Title: Made in China I am inspired by Chinese ancient paintings and Eastern European Iconography, which I have combined with my love of doing self-portrait. By using myself as the only subject, I intend to go beyond the superficial variety of different models being painted in the same way and instead look at how a variety of emotional responses can be generated using the same subject with different poses, lighting, and environments. This masterpiece painting would look great in your living room. It is a perfect conversational piece. a comment for one of my art buyers for this painting : "Your detail is excellent, your painting is filled with many different things to discover and appreciate. Your painting leaves a photo in the dust. Your talent grows with each painting you do. Love it, keep the art fire burning." "Debra LynchPosted Today at 12:53 PMThank you for your lovely Entry Thu, this is one of my favorite works of all time. I love the serious look in the eyes and the stubborn positioning of the arms and hands. My mother uses to look this way but I gave her reason to. :-) Beautiful and Congratulations on your honorable mention in the Admins Contest. Thank You, Thu and I love your work. L/F/Fb." This painting is going to be exhibited at: North x Northwest Exhibition: Women?s Work Yellowstone Art Museum 401 N. 27th Street Billings, Montana