A Walk Through @ Worth Ryder

A Walk Through
Five artists explore urban remnants and forgotten space

I am participating in a show at the Worth Ryder Gallery at UC Berkeley (116 Kroeber Hall) from July 14th–27th, 2009.
The OPENING RECEPTION is on Friday, July 17th, from 7–10pm.

This is my response to the theme of the show:

A Walk Through is an investigation into the dissolution of structure, both societal and physical. It is an artistic examination into modes of operation whose end results are obfuscated by social and cultural factors.

Infinite:Finite is a print on paper that deals with perception and the division between image and viewer. The faint landscapes beg the question of the very existence of form. Infinite:Finite is an exploration of both the perspectival space, a forced divide between viewer and the representation of tangible terrain, and a question of the significance of action when social, economic, and cultural concerns can be reduced to a distant speck on the horizon.

Gun is the reduction of an action to the human hand –a search for reality. It is an exercise in futility and a map of the accumulation of debris over time. The absurdity of throwing ash acts as a metaphor for man’s obsession with the unattainable, offering a glimpse at base human nature. The aggression of the gun is echoed by the hand’s sudden arrival into the frame, yet its insufficiency is quickly revealed by the ephemeral nature of the ash. Gun demonstrates a discontinuity in the paradigm of cause and effect, where the hostile action produces a passive result.
(Gun is a collaboration between Dominic Nguyen & David Whitaker)

On a side note: I also had the opportunity to design the flier. The graphic is based on an aerial view of an ad hoc parking situation outside of any formal environment. It makes me wonder if the tendency towards order exists when the structure does not. What is it that conditions humanity into parking in straight lines?

Hope to see you there!

Click for a PDF of the catalogue:
A Walk Through Show Catalogue

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Fellowship

I was awarded the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Fellowship 2009 by the Berkeley Art Museum / Pacific Film Archive. Thank you Anne, Brody and BAM/PFA.
The image is captured from a video David Whitaker and I are working on titled gun.

Group Show @ Root Division, SF

The Root Division Gallery is showing my work in June.
Leave the Capital is an exhibition of art and media dealing with the agency of the periphery—beyond political, economic, and media centers. The 13 artists in the show offer a critical mix of observation, confrontation, urban intervention, hybridity, and cathartic celebration in order to assert the continue

Uncharted

A disruption in a field of white. A forced division between the viewer and a landmass.

A Dulled Silence

Rendering a perceived aggression impotent, comfortable.

Group Show @ Alphonse Berber Gallery

The Alphonse Berber Gallery in Berkeley is showing my video, Tarring.
The short statement about my work:
Dominic Nguyen:
Nguyen’s video, “Tarring,” is an etude in anticipation and tension.  His work examines the notion of the ‘contemporary,’ the ‘current,’ and how it affects our perceptions about the past and our ideas about the future.
And the press release for continue

Every Story Exactly the Same

A collaboration with David Whitaker.
An installation created with cut and covered books. The stability of the structure is dependent on the keystone which in turn is held up by the friction from the adjacent books.
An exploration of tension in regards to the dissection, anonymization and fungibility of cultural objects.