For Kenny Nguyen—a mixed media artist and immigrant—creating has always been an integral and stabilizing part of his DNA. Despite a whirlwind journey, art continues to serve as the connecting force between the artist’s culture, identity and career. Nguyen, a master of silk sculpting, has swept onto the Charlotte scene with depth, heart and soul.
“(Growing up) we lived in a tiny village in the heart of the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam,” Nguyen recalls. “There was something about the peaceful landscape of coconut farms, silk villages, boats and rivers that nourished my dream to be a painter. I painted a lot of the landscape when I was a young child.”
At the age of seventeen, Nguyen moved to Ho Chi Minh City to attend the University of Architecture, where he studied art and worked at a fashion design house.
“Having a part-time job with helpful skills and experiences pushed me to pursue a professional fashion design career,” Nguyen says. “Fashion design is a great creative job, but fine art is more like a mission. I think my passion for art just transformed into more conceptual and self-reflection, versus industrial and production.”
Just two years later, Nguyen and his family moved to the United States. He notes that this experience was his most transformative, motivating him to work even harder towards the dreams he had begun to build in South Vietnam. “I was shocked and isolated. I barely spoke English and couldn’t communicate,” Nguyen says. “To learn a new language, new culture and begin a new life ... I told myself I must make it through and that there’s no other way.”
This determination and grit led Nguyen to pursue his formal fine art training at UNC Charlotte, and after graduation, land a showcase spot at Sozo Gallery (which has represented his work since 2017). While the artist’s deep cultural ties shine through each of his designs, perhaps his most notable creations are his silk sculptures—a hybrid of painting, textile work and sculpting. The art pieces are primarily composed of silk, a material that has a long history in traditional art.
“Silk has become a connector that ties both culture and career together,” Nguyen says. “From the silk village in the Mekong Delta tracing back to French and Chinese colonial history in Vietnam, it has had a profound meaning to the Vietnamese for thousands of years.”
Nguyen says that he begins the process by cutting and tearing the fabric into small strips, before soaking them in acrylic paint. From there, he reconstructs them onto a canvas.
“I think my approach in using silk for my artwork is what makes it unique,” Nguyen says. “It mimics my process of adaption and transformation in a new cultural environment. This also reflects my point of view on the constant change of our identity. At some point I think the process of making the art becomes more important than the finished artwork.”
Looking back on his path thus far, Nguyen says he is proud to have helped his family achieve their “American Dream,” as well as introduce Vietnamese culture to more people in the states. Nguyen also appreciates that his career path has allowed him the opportunity to influence so many young Vietnamese Americans, and connect them with their history and cultural roots.
“I think everyone has a story to tell and every artist finds a different way to approach the viewer,” Nguyen says. “My background is an inspiration for my artwork ... when I present my work to the community, the artwork overcomes all boundaries.”
OUT & ABOUT: Nguyen’s work is available at Sozo Gallery. He also features an on-view group exhibition ‘Deconstruction Reconstruction’ at the Brooklyn Collective Gallery (open until Jan. 2, 2022). ‘The Fuse Project,’ the artist’s first public art display (in collaboration with Upcycle Arts) is located outside of the historic Brooklyn Collective building.
