Thuan Vu: The New World (An Opening 2). Oil on panel, 36x36.”
Thuan Vu: Daydreaming BY JUDITH H. BONNER
icut, where he is Professor of Art at Southern Connecticut State University. Nonetheless, Vu maintains his ties to New Orleans. Vu’s atmospheric poetic paintings reflect his Vietnamese culture, as well as American and European influences. Many have symphonic connotations, with titles underscoring musical overtones, particularly the The New World Series. The latter immediately calls to mind Bohemian composer Antonin Dvořák’s New World Symphony, which he composed in 1893 during his time in New York City. While Dvořák explored this country with some feeling of discomfort, contemporary American audiences associate positive connotations with the symphony. A number of Vu’s paintings have parenthetical subtitles. Song birds appear in many of Vu’s compositions. Some works, like The New World (Marooned II), are an obvious play on words. This work, with its warm brownish-crimson palette, has its parallel in The New World (Blue) with its dominant cool colors. These two oil paintings have the most restricted palette of all the works presented at the gallery. The New World (In Giverny), with its misty impressionistic background, has a more vivid range of lilac and lavender floral elements in the foreground. The subtitle makes clear the influence of impressionist painter Claude Monet. The rhythm of green fronds at left moves the viewer’s eye upward and around the canvas, a technique visible in many of Vu’s compositions. Generally, Vu’s paintings present atmospheric views having a slightly blurred dreamlike background. A small work in
THUAN VU Cole Pratt Gallery New Orleans, LA ___
IN RECENT YEARS as artists return to naturalism and represent life about them, it has been compelling to observe gallery exhibitions as they explore a wide variety of artistic subjects. This is most obvious in the representation of landscapes. And among the most memorable of these is work by Thuan Vu. Through the years, New Orleans has had few Asian artists, particularly those with a Vietnamese heritage. The Cole Pratt Gallery presents Vu’s paintings and charcoal drawings of birds and mysterious forests, all of which are distinctly different from the usual depictions of landscapes. Perhaps the most obvious characteristics of his work to Asian painting are the issues of ambiguous space and a focus on nature. What distinguishes Vu’s gemlike works is a pervasive sense of mystery and otherworldliness. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Thuan Vu and his family settled in New Orleans, where he studied at Ben Franklin and New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Thuan Vu earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art and art history from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Louisiana State University. Since 1999, he has lived in New Haven, Connect36