The Grapevine Selection Presents Artist Nguyen Quang Huy

Nguyen Quang Huy was born in 1971 in Ha Tay, Vietnam (now officially a part of Hanoi) and in 1996 he graduated from Vietnam University of Fine Arts.

Nguyen Quang Huy is correctly referred to in a recent publication (*) as one of a small group of “pioneers” of Vietnamese contemporary art: Hanoi artists who were among the first to display their work internationally, and who significantly influenced the subsequent development of contemporary art in Hanoi.  Huy is well-known for his paintings of the landscapes and the women of the highland H’mong people. His work has a nebulous quality and he uses a predominantly blue palette inspired by the natural indigo dyes. Nguyen Quang Huy’s new paintings take a more abstract path. The images seem to oscillate between shattered dreams while appearing intriguing and magnificent at the same time.

Huy has had solo exhibitions in Vietnam, Germany, France, and Singapore, and participated in numerous international group exhibitions, including in Singapore, Germany, France, Japan, the United States, Finland, Thailand, China, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

His works are included in the permanent collection of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, the World Bank Art Program, and the Post Vidai collection of contemporary Vietnamese Art, Switzerland. He has had residencies in Germany, Australia and the United States.

In the Grapevine Selection – Volume 1 Huy will show a series of four paintings titled “Dancing on Blue Sky”.

Huy said:

“Women are beautiful. Normally when people are happy their whole body wants to swing and dancing is the common body language that people create to express their desires as well as expose their sexual attraction. My paintings in “Dancing on Blue Sky” cherish the beauty of women’s body, especially of the women who are independent, free and fulfilled in life.”

Words by Friederike Krentz and Brian Ring.

(*) “Vietnamese Contemporary Art 1990-2010″ by Bui Nhu Huong and Pham Trung. Another of the “pioneers” represented in The Grapevine Selection is Nguyen Minh Thanh.