Quynh Vu is a painter and sculptor based in Charlotte, NC. She graduated from Wake Forest University in 2022 with a BA in Studio Art as an Art Honors Student. She has exhibited in galleries, museums, and artist-run spaces domestically and internationally. Some select shows include Softened Scars (Mint Museum), Eyes Wide Open (SE CLT), and the co-curated show Welcome to Earth (Ford Building). Residencies Vu has completed are with the Berlin Art Institute (2021) and Goodyear Arts (2022). Vu’s work is included in Wake Forest University’s John P. Anderson Student Art Collection. Currently, she is a member of the collective at Goodyear Arts and works as their Facilities Manager.
Quynh Vu utilizes oil and acrylic paint, mylar, foam, and clay for her 2D and 3D work. Vu’s 2D works focus on creating portrayals of mundane moments in her every day. The monochromatic and dual-chromatic paintings bridge a connection between the viewer and artist where Vu invites the viewer to be a voyeur in her intimate life. Her limited palette fantasizes moments of vulnerability that disarm the viewer’s intrusion upon her private moments. The paintings of Vu capture fleeting memories that are not thought to be revisited and expose the defenselessness of preserving those memories. The sculptural works of Vu are in contrast to her intimate paintings. A viewer can take notice of cultural references to punk and kink in displays of tattoos, chains, and leather in the sculptures. Vu’s imaginative sculptures introduce a humorous break from the sincere painted scenes. Vu balances playfulness and sincerity by materially representing cuts of the complexities of lived experiences as humor. Vu’s oeuvre of intimate paintings and humorous sculptures provides vignettes of comical reality that evoke the daily human condition.
