Nguyen Xuan Huy

Like all outstanding art, Nguyen Xuan Huy’s painting is based on personal experience. His home country of Vietnam is on the threshold of new beginnings; as in the past it is under Communist rule and at the same time is struggling with the consequences of the last one hundred years. Four million people are affected by birth defects caused by the chemical Agent Orange, which was used by the US Army during the Vietnam War to defoliate huge areas of land. Nguyen Xuan Huy’s oil paintings convey the trauma of an entire people, who are also his own people. Using the symbols of Communist rule, his works depict bodies that are distorted, crippled and humiliated, yet graceful and strong. “This is a type of painting that gets under the skin; that reflects any promises of salvation of an ostensibly brave new world onto the precipices of reality.“ (Marc Wellmann)