How a Charlotte fiber artist entwines his Vietnamese heritage with his artwork

From The Charlotte Observer: One of the world’s busiest pedestrian corridors is now home to a massive artwork by a Charlotte artist. Kenny Nguyen, a Vietnamese American artist who works out of a Concord studio, recently unveiled an installation commissioned for the lobby of a bustling Times Square building.

The work, part of Nguyen’s “Eruption” series, is his largest to date, and is 24 feet tall and 16 feet wide. It’s one of many examples of his fiber art, constructed by tediously manipulating hand-cut strips of painted silk into large-scale installed sculptures. Nguyen’s diverse style mirrors his own varied background. The 35-year-old Vietnamese native relocated to Charlotte with family in 2010.

“When I was in Vietnam, I studied fashion design, so I always loved working in fabric and sculpture,” he said. “Making a dress is like making a sculpture around the body. So, when I got back into fine art, I trained in formal, abstract works, but I always try to incorporate different materials and go off the canvas.”

Today, as a working studio artist, he has participated in exhibitions around the world, including at the Sejong Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, plus appearances in museums and galleries from Germany to the state of Georgia.

Nguyen, who received his BFA in Art from UNC Charlotte in 2015, talks about how his education launched his career in this story by Virginia Brown in The Charlotte Observer.

Photo by Lila Turner.