Julien Nguyen

Svetlana is pleased to present Journey to the West, an exhibition by Julien Nguyen.

For the exhibition, Mr. Nguyen presents several new canvases and probably a sculpture.

In his canvases: a cast of afflicted figures. Dislodged from any singular time or cultural context, these characters seem burdened with being unable to live up to ideals which originate in some distorted view of antiquity.

It's an affliction that places them firmly in the present. It inscribes itself on the faces and bodies of these often warped, flimsy beings. Some of them hover between beauty and cloying affect. Others are distorted beyond the recognition of sympathy. There's a beautiful long-haired hippy from Wisconsin; some prep-school wannabe Protestant; a water polo player jock; a voyage on a moonlit sea.

The artist plays with color sarcastically.