Michelle Nguyen | Trick Mirror | Advance Preview

This preview has now closed. All paintings are now available for viewing on Michelle Nguyen's artist page. Please click here to see all available works in this collection.

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

Trick Mirror marks a compelling new chapter in Montreal-based artist, 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

All artworks are now available for acquisition. To secure a piece, please contact us at 416-977-0600 or toronto@bau-xi.com.