Dan Nguyen: Sediments

Dan Nguyen’s work is an organic and quiet process seems to happen almost incidentally. Full-fledged surface is the result of a synthesis of various materials and techniques, existing in symbiosis and tolerance. This harmony lies in a gesture of solidarity through reduction by cutting, tearing, and covering elements that have already been created. Important is the change, time is a source of a new perspective on an already sedimented image, which is then further transformed. Nguyen’s works evoke assemblages, collages, and patchworks. In works we can find continuous typewritten texts, sometimes just letters or illegible handwrittings, drawing and printmaking techniques such as linocuts and monotypes all stitched together into a cohesive and functional whole. As a self-taught artist, Dan has developed an intuitive working style in which everything influences everything else, and nothing is repeated. Every spontaneously found material presents a new opportunity to explore another approach in creative process. Thanks to the use of natural elements like flowers and leaves, the final appearance of his works changes over time and in some cases, they even disappear entirely. This conscious of impermanence and decay serves as a humble reminder that it is always worth striving to live well, or better, despite the inevitable “end of all things to drink and to step into the infinite”.

Dan Chay Nguyen (1986) ​​comes from Orlová, where his worldview was shaped by the atmosphere of industrial decline with all its social consequences on one hand, and a vibrant anarcho-punk community on the other. These influences have deeply affected himself, the way he creates, and the themes he explores. Over the years, he has produced numerous illustrations for underground bands, zines, activist collectives, and independent labels and publishers. Beyond visual work, he explores sound and the patience of listeners as a member of various more or less obscure associations. He still believes that beneath the pavement lies a beach. He never had a punk nickname.