Cassadaga
The artist states: “I have thought about the poem “Pause” by Mary Ruefle at least once a day since the moment I read it. In the poem, she speaks to her experience with menopause and emphasizes that “though you believe now that you can control your body/(such is your strength after all that yoga) you cannot.”
Despite having to yet experience menopause, I could not help but ruminate on this idea of how little choice we have in regards to how we grow (I speak of growth in a very broad sense), and how difficult and painful it often is. Cassadaga explores this metamorphosis in a multitude of ways by looking at the duality of mind and body, girl and woman, and woman and swan (the painting having been previously entitled Leda Becoming Swan).”
Nguyen's illustrative paintings employ a variety of techniques using oil paint and pastel on a canvas surface. Rife with narrative symbols, her dramatic tableaus sing with chaotic tension and humorous undertones. Painted in jewel tones and highlighted by soft-hued pastels, starkly contrasted by bold gestural markings, Nguyen's works are ready to hang framed or unframed.