Artist We Love: Hom Nguyen
At RDN Arts, we love our artist. They are carefully curated for you the art lover.
This week we are highlighting the newest artist to join us: Hom Nguyen.
His talents have taken him from a designer of fine leather shoes to a contemporary artist with instinctive sense of self.
Hom Nguyen’s Background
Self-taught artist, Hom Nguyen, was born to immigrant parents in Paris. He grew up in a modest environment. At the age of 14, he became the family breadwinner and began to take care of his mother and home.
Stressful for any teenager, however, Hom Nguyen exceeded at this task. His first job as a shoe salesman for minimum wage helps care for his family, however, his love for art continues to grow.
His interests in art lead him to integrate it into his work. He invents a patina for shoes and creates many unique models.
In 2009, inspired by the successful patents of his leather shoes he began to integrate drawing to his achievements. The inspiration he derived from his leather creations gave rise to his distinctive drawings; further excelling his already successful career.
Career
In 2009, after moving to a large workshop in Bagnolet, allowed him to start portraits on large format canvases. By 2011, his paintings were discovered by his patron who still supports him today. He is considered an emerging artist by 2013; where he is acclaimed by MyContemporary.com. They see him as a “meteorite” among his artists.
His first exhibition “Unveiled the Veil” reveals this young prodigy; a man who managed to make himself while unknown through most social networks. Very close to its origins, Hom Nguyen showcases the trauma of immigrant children in the series “Without Landmarks”. The series features the faces of children without mouths or ears. A retrospective of the traumas he endured through childhood.
By 2019, working with the Monnaie de Paris Museum and Vogue magazine, he creates Michele Obama’s iconic portrait. The portrait is a phenomenal success at the auction house Christie’s.
Creating waves in the usually subdued art world. The money raised is used to fund UN Women’s programs for sex equality and women empowerment. He also pays tribute to Edith Piaf this year, by creating a portrait currently on display at the Tenon Hospital’s Meyneil wing. This masterpiece also covers the outside wall of the same building, where Edit Piaf was born.
Hom Nguyen’s Art
As an unconventional person – Hom Nguyen work reflects this as well. While working with charcoal, gouache felt, oil or even pen, each of his paintings reveal the deepest sense of the human being through the lines and color.
Hom’s work primarily revolves around portraits. The application of the material or the vivacity of the gesture amplifies his vision. The portraits capture and transcend the depth of feelings. They are a representation of the complexity of the emotions that we face every day.
His subtle representations deal with the duality of the visible and the invisible. His work is also a reminder to push ourselves to reflect and meditate on the facade we show the world.
The portraits are a recreation of humanity and are related to our daily life. Creating a dialogue with a mere suggestion.
Hom Nguyen is an artist we love because of his unique sense and portrayal of humanity. His remarkable works speak on the injustices that he and many people face. Although faced with hardship – he used his humble beginnings to create the masterpieces we graced with today.