Feasting
"Both Feasting and Vanitas were made to be modern memento mori paintings, a genre in which I am enamoured with. These paintings, though made to allow the viewer to acknowledge their own morality, always feel like a sterile representation of death. The addition of the insects helps subvert that characteristic without being too macabre. To insert insects into these still lifes is to communicate that where there is death, there is also life. In Vanitas, the death of the fish allows the butterflies to thrive. Insects are under appreciated in not only art, but also the world at large. Insects are an important part of our ecosystems. They help keep us alive by pollinating all the plants and breaking down dead or decaying organisms. I love insects, so please do not be surprised if they squirm their way into more of my paintings in the near future. In Vanitas, my ceramic work has finally found a place in one of my paintings. I hope this is only the beginning of me devising ways of blending my to favourite mediums, oil paint and clay. "
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.