Nguyen Thai Tuan’s works, in general, share the same atmosphere due to his use of color, light, and spatial composition, to the presence of characteristic monuments and anonymous individuals. Reading his paintings, even though the political context behind them is unclear, one can still vaguely guess the underlying attitude, thanks to the sharp contrast of subjects placed next to or inside of one another, complimenting each other in a non-hierarchical manner. From a semiotic perspective, image-actions repeat throughout Tuan’s works as a motif; they exist beyond spoken language, touching on the viewer’s many different senses and, from there, create meaning. In the series Untitled, Thai Tuan uses many images of political landmarks in the country’s early-modern and modern history. However, most of them are in a derelict state. Notice that the works in the Untitled series are not numbered. They seem to belong to a dreamland, suspended, out of order, in which disintegration gradually seeps into the hollow, rotten walls, then spreads out into the land and air. Anonymous people hang around not knowing what they were looking for.
(Edited from text excerpts provided by San Art)