About
At the age of five, Tuan Vu began drawing the monsters that populated his nightmares. He had no dreams at that time because Vietnam was then going through a troubled period. In hindsight, he realizes that it was through painting that he had long sought to give meaning to everything that was happening around him.
Even today, he still wonders about the strange world in which we live and tries to better understand the humans who inhabit it. Even if he sometimes tries to move away from it, his works always end up being filled with fantastic characters, such as nymphs and mermaids, reminiscent of those of Greek mythology. Inspired by the color palette of the great masters he admires such as Gauguin, Vuillard, and Redon, and that of more contemporary painters such as Peter Doig, Tuan Vu plays with our imagination, between dreamed scenes and contemplated landscapes.
Vibrant, colorful, and playful at first sight, his works present various levels of reading. The artist thus implicitly questions very current themes such as the impact of climate change on our lives. Without ever wanting to impose himself and give a ready-made answer, he leaves it to the beholder to question himself in turn. Vestiges of memories of his childhood in Vietnam and palm trees are found in almost all his works. Flamboyant or bare, fragile or robust, they often give a clue to the hidden meaning of the work.
Sometimes winking at renowned painters such as Botticelli or Manet, Tuan Vu comes to pay homage to them while reclaiming their work to integrate it into his own artistic approach and to be part of a continuity in the history of art.
Biography
Tuan Vu was born in Saigon, Vietnam. As far back as he can remember, he never stopped creating. His favorite mediums are drawing, painting, and photography, which did not prevent him from touching also on design and architecture.
Although he has attended several drawing, painting, and photography workshops at the University of Montreal over the years, he remains essentially a self-taught artist. His natural talent is profusely expressed through his work.
His work was first seen at an auction he organized in 2010 to help people in Haiti hit by a devastating earthquake. Subsequently, he participated in four group exhibitions: Pluriel au singulier at the Galerie GOT (2016), Beach Life at the Galerie Luz (2019), Montréal en Arts (2021) and at the Institut National Art Contemporain gallery (2022) which his works represented by the gallery. He has also had three solo exhibitions: the photography exhibition Brume at Galerie LUZ (2018). In 2021, the exhibition of paintings, drawings and photographs Eternal Summer/Endless Summer at the LE LivART Art Center. In 2022, an individual exhibition of paintings: Songes Hédonistes at the Institut National Art Contemporain gallery. He participated in an art fair FOCUS ART FAIR (BOOM) at the Carrousel du Louvre, in Paris (2022).
In 2019, he gave a lecture on Photography and Intuition at the ALPA Photo Club in Longueuil. In 2021, he was named artist of the month at YES Montreal, gave an interview to LeZarts on MATV as a guest artist and received a Merit for his participation in the Luxembourg Art Prize (2021 and 2022). In 2022, he is a guest artist for the conference on photography and painting at Women's Art Society Montreal (WASM). An article of the most read newspaper in Quebec, Lapresse, is dedicated to the exhibition Songes Hédonistes (2022). Finally, he was selected among the finalist artists for the 30th anniversary edition of the London-based magazine ArtMaze (2022).
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Songes Hédoniques - Paintings, Institut National Art Contemporain Gallery, Montreal, QC, Canada
2021
L'Été éternel/Endless Summer - Paintings and Photography, LivArt, Montreal, QC, Canada
2018
Brume - Photography, Galerie Luz (Belgo Building), Montreal, QC, Canada
2010
Encan Soutien à Haïti - Drawings and Paintings, Montreal, QC, Canada
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Institut National Art Contemporain Gallery - Paintings, Montreal, QC, Canada
2021
MTL en Arts - Paintings and Photography, Montreal, QC, Canada
2019
Beach Life - Photography, Galerie Luz (Belgo Building), Montreal, QC, Canada
2016
Pluriel au singulier - Photography, Galerie Got, Montreal, QC, Canada
ART FAIR
2022 - 01-04 September
ART BOOM FOCUS PARIS - Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France
PRESS, INTERVIEWS
2022 - LaPresse: Les histoires tropicales de Tuan Vu
2021 - LeZarts: The Arts of Montreal on MAtv
CONFERENCE
2022 - Guest Speaker - Painter and Photographer at Women's Art Society, Montréal, QC, Canada
2019 - Photographie et Intuition, Club de Photo ALPA, Longueuil, QC, Canada
RECOGNITIONS
2022 - Finalists for publication in the 30th anniversary ArtMaze Magazine (Double Edition 30-31)
2022 - Luxembourg merit participation
2021 - YES MONTREAL Client of the Month
https://yesmontreal.ca/december-january-client-of-the-month-tuan-vu/
2021- Luxembourg merit participation