MICHELLE NGUYEN FEATURED IN MONTECRISTO MAGAZINE
Michelle Nguyen sat down with Violette Leigh of Montecristo Magazine to discuss her painting practice. Shedding light on the significance of literature in creating her compositions, Nguyen notes the viewer's experience in relating to the different figures populating her canvas is of particular interest:
'The painter gets to know the viewer by who they identify with,” she explains. By tagging oneself in a painting or identifying with a particular character (maybe the elegantly dressed woman sprouting a demon arm in Cassadaga or the woman devoured by butterflies in Gorgoneion), the spectator is given an indirect opportunity to share vulnerable thoughts. Nguyen believes society has an increasing need for empathy, and she tries to create it with her stylized communities of humans, demi-humans, and non-humans. “I love how when people are looking at these humanoids,” she says, “we’re always trying to relate to them in that way and anthropomorphize, personify, and empathize with them.” This act makes relatable what may have first been perceived as foreign.
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