Thursday, September 24, 2009, 5:30pm  |  Center for Creative Photography 108

Tam Van Tran’s work crosses borders between change and stasis, organic and human made, painting and sculpture; it is in fact, hybrid. Van Tran couples organic substances such as chlorophyll, spirulina, and beet juice with acrylic paint, and metal staples. He lists as his influences artists as diverse as Francisco Goya, Odilon Redon, and Charles Burchfield. Using staples and hole punches, Tam Van Tran manipulates his paintings on paper, forcing them into asymmetrical shapes and odd bunches. By stapling paper together over and over, Van Tran changes the shape of his works, relying on both nature and accident. His emphasis on materials including crimped paper, staples, and hole punches is tempered by his interest in traditional Chinese landscape painting, yet the works can look digitally altered and futuristic. Simultaneously, the work can look organic, suggesting cellular structures.

Van Tran draws imagery from past experiences as waiter, chef, and lab technician. He has made paintings that have molded and he has used eggshells, all the while noting the way in which these unconventional materials shape shifted over time. He has also experimented with white out liquid and with chlorophyll and spirulina algae, two substances favored by health food stores for their healing properties.

Born 1966 in Kontum, Vietnam, Van Tram ‘s family left Vietnam in 1975 before the fall of South Vietnam. They relocated to Denver, CO where the artist grew up. He later attended Pratt Institute in New York City and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Transculturations: Cultural Hybridity in American Art | VASE 2009-2010