Feels Like an Idiom
ModA, 227 E 24th St, New York, NY
June 27 – July 6, 2025
Feels Like an Idiom installation view 227 E 24th St, New York
“Nguyen presents a variety of found objects holding cultural and colonial symbols, whether ambiguous or explicit; objects on a spectrum between profane and sacred. From mass-produced commodities to spiritual markers, the works play with Western assumptions of Asia, subverting the typical role imposed onto racialized people as cultural experts on their own otherness, and instead turns oneself into an unreliable narrator.”
“Nguyen presents a variety of found objects holding cultural and colonial symbols, whether ambiguous or explicit; objects on a spectrum between profane and sacred. From mass-produced commodities to spiritual markers, the works play with Western assumptions of Asia, subverting the typical role imposed onto racialized people as cultural experts on their own otherness, and instead turns oneself into an unreliable narrator.”
Bonsai
steel beam, printed plastic, spring, tree
96 x 5 x 8 inches
steel beam, printed plastic, spring, tree
96 x 5 x 8 inches
Another Mountain
cobblestones, carved soapstone
dimensions variable
cobblestones, carved soapstone
dimensions variable
Promise of an Orchid
steel
steel
colour pencil on steel
24 x 24 inches
Something I Can Hold
aluminum cans, black tea, milk
dimensions variable
aluminum cans, black tea, milk
dimensions variable
Dragons* (lost puppies)
found objects; jade
6 x 8 1/2 x 8 inches
found objects; jade
6 x 8 1/2 x 8 inches