Michelle Nguyen | Trick Mirror
Michelle Nguyen | Trick Mirror
August 7 - September 1, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 7th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm | Artist in Attendance
Opening August 7th at Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, Trick Mirror marks a compelling new chapter in Michelle Nguyen’s artistic exploration of identity, illusion, and the emotional weight of how we see ourselves. Inspired by Jia Tolentino’s essay collection Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, the exhibition uses the mirror as both subject and metaphor - a familiar object that continues to hold a quiet kind of power. Through layered imagery and subtle symbolism, Nguyen explores the dual nature of mirrors: as tools of clarity and sources of distortion, offering a space where self-perception, memory, and imagination intertwine.
Artist Statement:
“Because what is the face, what finally, is the skin over the flesh, a cover, a disguise, rouge for the insupportable horror of our living nature.” — Elena Ferrante, The Days of Abandonment
“The title Trick Mirror derives from a 2019 collection of essays by Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion. The mirror is an object that has fascinated humankind since the beginning of time. It’s thought to be imbued by supernatural power by many. Human beings throughout history have used it to divine the future, heal wounds, cast spells, ward away evil, and connect with the dead. Despite now being an object of the mundane, the mirror still has the ability to hold our attention, and therefore retains power over us. In this show, I explore the mirror as a metaphor, one that is capable of both revelation and distortion.” - Michelle Nguyen
Co-director of Bau-Xi Gallery, Kyle Matuzewiski, lends his thoughts on Nguyen’s newest exhibition. He writes:
“In Michelle Nguyen’s recent body of work, Trick Mirror, the artist seeks to explore the metaphysical nature of the mirror - a ubiquitous device which has both the power to create and destroy, simultaneously. Seemingly innocuous, the ability to see ourselves in startling clarity has shaped and transformed how an entire society not only views the sense of self, but the other. Nguyen provides the viewer with historical context through the image Bathing, the earliest interactions with our own reflection, only obtained in vulnerable or intimate states. It was momentary, lacking clarity, and initially provoked fear or skepticism. This is contrasted by Cockfighting Melee VII which I see as an allegory for our modern view of self-image and the spectacle of social media, illustrated by the two gamecocks engaged with one another, under an intense spotlight, all while surrounded by enthralled figures, shrouded in mystery. Our self-identities and experiences are shaped by mirrors - literal or otherwise - and while they can empower us, they can also cast doubt on who we are, shifting our internal dialogue from positive to negative in the blink of an eye.”
Michelle Nguyen’s rich, allegorical paintings use human and animal bodies in varying states to explore notions of identity, existence, and historical erasure. Her canvases are populated by elegant, humorous or even grotesque figures, as well as carefully selected vegetation and objects - often iterations of classical motifs - that appear to be part dream, part nightmare. Nguyen uses oil, pastel, and vivid colours to illustrate worlds dense with mythology, symbolism, and narrative.'
Born in Toronto, Nguyen currently lives and works in Montreal. She studied Environmental Design and received her undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia in 2016.