%C2%A9 Minneapolis Institute of Art
Untitled 14, 2017
Teo Nguyenexpand_more
Acrylic paint on vellum paper, mounted on aluminumexpand_more
Gifts of funds from Mary and Bob Mersky and the Paul and Sheila Steiner Charitable Trustexpand_more 2018.39.1
Not on Viewexpand_more
Born in Vietnam, Teo Nguyen lives and works in Minneapolis. His landscapes of the rural Upper Midwest capture the vast space, boundless fields, big skies, and chilling isolation distinctive to the region, particularly in winter. He enjoys exploring this novel terrain and sees a mesmerizing beauty often overlooked in the land of his adopted home. “As an immigrant and an artist,” he said, “I have learned to embrace the American spirit of freedom that says if you see a road that interests you, go ahead; venture down it. Even so, I am always a stranger to what I see; always slightly outside, finding in what is ordinary to others something tender and strange.” Intensely sensitive to the special qualities of this place—the novel scenery, light, and atmosphere—Nguyen is uniquely positioned to open the eyes of his fellow Minnesotans and their northern neighbors to the sublime beauty that surrounds them.
Nguyen’s prairie landscapes are a marvel in terms of their photorealistic technique. The type of freezing, rural terrain that he depicts is deeply familiar to many Minnesotans, but he reveals a beauty in this land that can be easily overlooked—the immense space, the infinite colors of a wintry gray sky or brown grass, the allure of a distant farmhouse, the splendor of a leafless tree. Even the metal silo is made beautiful in Nguyen’s hand.
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