Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
Installation view, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, 291 Grand Street, February 28 - May 3, 2020
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Boat People (still)
2020
Single-channel video, 4k, Super 16mm transferred to digital, color, 5.1 surround sound, 19 minutes 46 seconds
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs
JCG11340
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
A Lotus in a Sea of Fire
2020
Pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper
27 x 48 in.
68.6 x 121.9 cm
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs
JCG11350
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Arrival of The Boat People, 2020
Pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper
27 x 48 in
68.6 x 121.9 cm
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs
JCG11351
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
A Lotus In A Sea Of Fire, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
6 1/2 x 13 x 8 in.
16.5 x 33 x 20.3 cm
JCG11159
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Fire Outside, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
16 1/2 x 6 x 7 1/2 in.
41.9 x 15.2 x 19.1 cm
JCG11161
TUAN ANDREW NGUYENTUAN NGUYEN
Memorial To A Piece Of Floating Debris, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
20 x 22 x 1 in.
50.8 x 55.9 x 2.5 cm
JCG11160
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
Mile 00 Everywhere OR Replica of Bataan Death March Marker Mile 00, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
59 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.
151.1 x 41.9 x 41.9 cm
JCG11164
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
A God, A Casket, A Crossing, 2019
Santa Clara Marine Plywood
16 x 72 x 18 1/2 in.
40.6 x 182.9 x 47 cm
JCG11157
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
Not The Smell of Napalm, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
23 in. high (58.4 cm)
Wooden base: 13 x 12 x 2.5 in. (33 x 30.5 x 6.4 cm)
Pedestal: 30 x 30 x 4 in. (76.2 x 76.2 x 10.2 cm)
JCG11163
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Offering Of A Sentient Cry, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
Left hand: 26.5 x 15.5 x 9 in. (67.3 x 39.8 x 22.9 cm)
Right hand: 27.5 x 9 x 6 in. (69.9 x 22.9 x 15.2 cm)
JCG11158
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Offering Of A Sentient Cry, 2019
Detail
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Fire Inside, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood, 3 parts
29 x 64 x 36 in.
73.4 x 162.6 x 91.4 cm
JCG11279
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
Not The Sword That Killed Magellan, 2019
Hand-carved gmelina wood
38 x 5 1/2 x 1 in.
96.5 x 14 x 2.5 cm
JCG11162
TUAN ANDREW NGUYEN
The Boat People (still)
2020
Single-channel video, 4k, Super 16mm transferred to digital, color, 5.1 surround sound
Ed. of 5 + 2 AP
JCG11340
James Cohan is pleased to present A Lotus in a Sea of Fire, an exhibition of new work by Tuan Andrew Nguyen, on view from February 28 through July 2 at 291 Grand Street. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with James Cohan. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist on Friday, February 28 from 6-8 PM. Nguyen will be in conversation with Christopher Myers at the gallery on Sunday, March 1 at 3 PM.
To explore the exhibition in our online Viewing Room, please click here.
Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s work explores the power of storytelling through video and sculpture. His projects are based on extensive research and community engagement, tapping into inherited histories and counter-memory. Nguyen extracts and re-works dominant, oftentimes colonial histories and supernaturalisms into imaginative vignettes. Fact and fiction are interwoven in poetic narratives that span time and place.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is The Boat People, a single channel video installation displayed alongside hand-carved wooden sculptural objects. Set in an unspecified post-apocalyptic future at the precarious edge of humanity’s possible extinction, the film follows a band of children led by a strong-willed and resourceful little girl. Calling themselves The Boat People, they travel the seas and collect the stories of a world they never knew through objects that survived over time.
