Tam Van Tran

American and Vietnamese, born 1966

Untitled

© Tam Van Tran

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

download

© Tam Van Tran

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Tam Van Tran

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Untitled, 2007

Artwork Details

Materials

acrylic, spirulina, pencil, collage, and staples on paper

Measurements

sheet: 12 x 12 inches (30.48 x 30.48 cm); support: 12 x 12 x 9 inches (30.48 x 30.48 x 22.86 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Charles Clifton Fund, 2008

Accession ID

2008:40.3

Tam Van Tran blurs the boundaries between painting, drawing, and sculptural practices by merging traditional materials—such as canvas, paper, and paint—with decidedly less conventional ones—including algae, beet juice, eggshells, spirulina, and staples. His distinctive working methods result in hand-molded abstractions that resemble aerial maps when viewed from afar and are layered with nuances that reveal the artist’s hand. He begins by painting and drawing an image on paper that he then manipulates into a three-dimensional object by cutting, hole-punching, stapling, and other processes. Tran’s work is full of dualities—abstraction and representation, natural and manmade, terrestrial and otherworldly. Through his imagery the artist, who is a devout Buddhist, explores the complexity of our universe, aiming to reconcile East and West by pursuing meditative mindfulness and beauty alongside darker sensibilities of violence and aggression.

Label from Drawing: The Beginning of Everything, July 8–October 15, 2017

Other Works by This Artist