» A Touch

The works Revelation of Time and A Touch diverge significantly from the commercial painting trends of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which heavily focused on idyllic landscapes, portraits of beautiful Vietnamese women or still life objects. In these works, we see Nguyen Trung’s great interest in experimenting with different painting media and techniques. Nowhere can we see the vibrant colors, soft brushstrokes nor romanticization of subjects in his earlier works; instead, monotone shades such as deep brown (representing earth, soil and nature) or aged white (representing walls bathed in time and history) were frequently used in his work from this period. While Revelation of Time incorporates sedge mats and papier mâché to create texture, demonstrating the dynamic relationship between stillness and movement, light and dark, A Touch embodies one of the very rare occasions in which the artist uses his body part to paint. Here, Trung inscribes his hands onto the canvas – literally leaving behind his creative mark. 
 
(Edited from text excerpts provided by CUC Gallery)