Cian Duggan
Cian Duggan (b. 1990, Ireland) draws inspiration from the bootleg and DIY spirit of skate culture on which he was brought up during his teenage years. Breaking away from the restrictive, art school definitions of painting, the artist instead considers the practice as much more fluid and unfixed, placing as much importance on where he paints as what he paints. His works, which evoke an earthly morphing of rocks and body parts, can be found on the walls and streets of various cities all over the world. Rendering the familiar unfamiliar, his works are situated somewhere between memory and imagination, the prehistoric and futuristic, and the handcrafted and digital.
Cian Duggan’s works have been featured in solo and group exhibitions, including Dept. of Speculation, Galerie Quynh, HCMC, Vietnam, 2022; Illuminated Curiosities, Nguyen Art Foundation, HCMC, Vietnam, 2022; Nổ Cái Bùm, Dalat, Vietnam, 2022; Art at the Park, Park Hyatt Saigon, organized by San Art, HCMC, Vietnam, 2022; People, Victory and Life after the War, Nguyen Art Foundation, HCMC, Vietnam, 2021; One World, as part of the ANCER Conference, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, 2020; password 0~1, MoT+++, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020; otherMother, MoT+++, HCMC, Vietnam, 2019; and All Animals Are Equal, A. Farm, HCMC, Vietnam, 2018-2019. In 2019, he participated in the Wu Chi-Tsung Studio art residency in Berlin, Germany, and in 2018, he was a resident of A. Farm, HCMC, Vietnam.
Studio Visit with Cian Duggan
In this video interview, Cian Duggan recalls his father’s fascination with the spiritual history of places, which informs the artist’s own approach to painting: he places as much importance on where he paints as on what he paints. Bringing his artworks out to the streets, Cian’s abstract forms can be found on various walls around Ho Chi Minh City, next to other graffiti tags – and aspects of the streets back into the gallery, Cian thus explores how disparate places can be connected, with his signature shapes acting as portals between different spaces, and even different times.
This video is part of a series of interviews by Nguyễn Art Foundation.