Category Archives: NGUYEN, MYLYN

Paper Works II – Closing 4 May 2013

Despite the curatorial limitations requiring the works to be crafted using paper, Paper Works II is remarkably diverse. Along a shelf is Mylyn Nguyen’s collection of glass jars and vessels, where only upon closer examination the extraordinarily lifelike daddy long-legs spiders that appear to have been captured and confined, reveal themselves as intricately cut inanimate, painted paper. Melinda Le Guay’s ‘Furl’ embodies the fragile and diaphanous nature of tissue paper, whilst contrasting this quality with the strength and composition provided by the frames she has crafted using agapanthus stalks.

Where some works present the delicacy of paper, others showcase the strength of the medium or reflect the contact with paper unavoidable in daily life. Trudy Moore’s remarkable rubbing, that is also simultaneously a paper sculpture, manages to hold its form without any supports. Providing a participatory factor are both Tammie Castle’s ‘Home is Where the Heart is’, inviting visitors to share a memory of home on a postcard, and also Chris Bold’s ‘What Happens Here Then’, which streams from the front of the building and into the Gallery, recording the footsteps of visitors.

Mylyn Nguyen, ‘Daddy Long Legs’

Daddy Long Legs, 2013

“I am a champion at catching flying flies in mid air with a plastic cup, a whisperer to ants and a rescuer of spiders with my trusty glass jar and customized flattened lid for easy slide under spider action. But dare I admit that I have not always been the defender of bug, creepy crawly or wriggling thing. For my very first memory of meeting a spider, with no hesitation, I stuck my little index finger out, pointed and aimed and pop… a very flat and very dead, itty bitty red spider. If only the end of recess bell rung a second earlier.

Karma, I think has placed its finger on me and now no ant, no mosquito and certainly no spider have met my deadly index finger after that fateful day.”

Mylyn Nguyen, April 2013

Mylyn Nguyen, ‘Daddy Long Legs’ (installation view) 2013, watercolour + ink on paper, found glasses. Currently on view as part of Paper Works II until 4 May 2013.

All For Art and Art For All – Issue 1

Issue one of the new online Sydney arts publication ALL FOR ART AND ART FOR ALL is now available!

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In the issue, our Gallery Assistant Olivia Welch interviews Represented Artist Mylyn Nguyen. Check out this free publication here: http://allforartandartforall.com/

BMG at Art Stage Singapore 2013

Will Coles ‘Might is Right’ 2012 (work in progress) fibre glass resin with gold leaf, 130 x 80 x 50cm

In January next year Brenda May Gallery will be exhibiting three of our represented artists at Art Stage Singapore. We look forward to extending our international reach by showcasing the works of Will Coles, Waratah Lahy and Mylyn Nguyen.

Will Coles is essentially a street- artist who uses quotidian objects that incorporate humorous but deceptively serious messages to provoke social commentary. Coles continues to use the streets as his canvas and his works appear in many ‘art laneways’ around the world.

Waratah Lahy, ‘Nightlife (Ping Pong)’ 2012, oil on glass, 11 x 7 x 7cm

Waratah Lahy is concerned with the overlooked moments of the everyday and the Australian obsession with ‘big’ tourist icons. The artist’s works, created in miniature, examine the act of looking – whether through a window at dusk, at the seemingly mundane or at the ‘Mona Lisa’. Lahy translates these observations into tiny paintings on canvas, perspex, crushed aluminum cans or into found drinking glasses.

Mylyn Nguyen says her work evolved from the fertile imagination of a child at just three. Born in Australia of Vietnamese parents, she received her Masters of Visual Arts in 2006 at Sydney College of the Arts, where she spent her time in the glass studio making works combining blown glass with various unlikely materials.

Mylyn Nguyen, ‘Dirt (Octopus)’ 2012, clay, Coir-Peat, pebble, twig, fibre, watercolour + ink on paper, 14 x 30 x 25cm variable

Nguyen’s exhibition ‘An owl flew into my office and told me to look for Bear’ is currently on show in the Gallery, featuring whimsical and quirky creations. Join Nguyen and Todd Fuller this Saturday 17th for their Drinks with the Artists, 4-6pm.

Art Stage Singapore runs from 24 – 27 Jan 2013 at the iconic Marina Bay Sands Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Focus On: Mylyn Nguyen

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In 2008 Brenda May Gallery had its first Introducing… show, a series of exhibitions aimed at showcasing the work of artists who are new to the Gallery. One of these young talents was Mylyn Nguyen, who presented a delightful collection of works narrating fantastical stories involving paintbrushes in congregations or worked into miniature worlds. This lead to her 2009 exhibition with the Gallery in which she presented: The amazing magicool journey of bear and me and the friends we met along the way. This exhibition displayed an imaginative exploration into an experience that could have been as a child and was now beginning to flourish in adulthood. Nguyen created a whimsical narrative through sculpture for the childhood imaginary friends she never had, actualizing these creatures into tangible objects that now occupy her adult life. In the words of the artist: “ I now ride the train to work with a glass friend in my pocket, a bear in my bag and a conversation with the little dust bunny in the crack of the window seal, populated by three little villages and a bug…”

Left: Mylyn Nugyen, ‘I can make you into ice cream’ 2009, clay, paint, felt, ink on paper, 12 x 8 x 8cm
Right: Mylyn Nugyen, ‘White dining chair’ 2009, found chair, wood, twigs, foam, dirt, paint, 89 x 40 x 37cm

Her work ‘I can make you into ice-cream‘ was part of a group of works in this show, all with blissful titles reminiscent of descriptive language used in children’s books. This playful work presents a situation in which the imagination of the tiny hand-painted protagonist and the reality of the scene create a nose-crinkling humour. This exhibition also saw her form miniscule changes to furniture, making a remarkable difference. Her work ‘White dining chair‘, as an example, would appear to be just that at a simple glance, but once engaged with the tiny carved out landscape on the seat of the chair draws the viewer in to the little world.

2010 saw the creation of Nguyen’s ever popular and still developing ‘Bottle A Tree + Girl‘ series. In small bottles the artist conserves a forest tree-by-tree, each with a little autobiographical paper girl making a tree her own. A spindling daddy-long-legs, a tail-less dog, a flock of microscopic bluebirds and a balancing bundle of furniture, among other animals and objects, have featured in this series in miniature paper form. As it is a continuing project, each time a new collection is made, the level of intricacy, imagination and creative genius continues to progress and amaze.

Left: ‘Bird + Girl #2′ 2011, acrylic + gouache on clay, wire, feathers, twig, glass dome, 24 x 17 x 17cm
Centre: ‘Bottle A Tree + Girl’ 2010, glass bottle, dirt, sponge, twig, w/c + ink on paper, 8.5 x 4 x 3cm (variable)
Right: ‘Bottle A Tree + Girl’ 2011, glass bottle, dirt, sponge, twig, w/c + ink on paper, dimensions variable

Mylyn Nguyen has since been taken on by the Gallery as a represented artist last year and has further delighted us with her inventive an innovative creations. This year alone we have seen anthropomorphic birds, autobiographic cats and more of her extraordinary miniature worlds in ordinary household chairs. This year in November she will be having a solo show at the Gallery entitled An owl flew into my office and told me to look for bear which is certainly bound to captivate and intrigue viewers. In her exhibition statement Nguyen explains, “This is about the tiny little bit of moss that sits in the crack of the concrete footpath outside the office that reminds me that one day, I should stop working and go find bear.”