Keri Nguyen | SUNY Oswego

Keri Nguyen
BFA, Studio Art - Painting Concentration
Liverpool, NY
[email protected]

Biography

Keri was born in Louisiana, where she spent her childhood catching frogs with her cousins and playing outdoors, or spending time with her father on his fishing boat. She moved to New York when she was eight years old and developed an interest in art and video games in this new environment. From there, she would draw fictional characters, interior spaces, and experiment with different types of art inspired by her childhood experiences as a Vietnamese-American. At the State University at Oswego, she's taken a range of classes from photography, printmaking, painting, drawing, digital illustration, creative coding, ceramics, and other kinds. Her main style of art is surrealism, in which she blends different environments, animals, and human figures. She is graduating with a Fine Arts major with a drawing and painting concentration. Post-graduation, she plans on taking on different artistic jobs to continue experimenting and learning, and create surreal artwork on the side.

Artist Statement

Identity has always been an integral part of my artwork, with my inspirations being memories both joyful and traumatic. Imagery such as flowers, flowing water, and the female body are recurrent themes in my artwork, which can be linked to my influences Vietnamese culture and my family's devotion to religion. Every artwork holds meaning, with either a story or concept, I want the viewer to comprehend. Another essential subject matter in my artwork is the topic of sustainability, with the prevalent issue of climate change and pollution affecting everyone living on Earth. These are the ideas that I resonate with & want to illustrate from my viewpoint in this world.

Fragmented
Multimedia Acrylic Painting on puzzle pieces
2019
At first appearance, the human figure appears to be heavily fragmented and broken into pieces. Both her physical body and her spiritual body are visible, however her colorful and undefined spiritual form breaks through the surface as she reaches out to be more than her container.

Memorabilia
Oil on Canvas
16x20"
2020
When I, the artist, look at this painting- I see childhood and young adulthood memorabilia. The dragon flies I would catch and release on the playground as a child, the water fountain I built with my father, and the personal items I would wear with me throughout my
journey through life. Is it possible for the viewer to look at this and understand me more? Or do they feel nothing?

Abandoned Technology
Oil on Wood Panel
11x14"
2020
Technology is being used throughout society to maintain structure and old technology is abandoned for faster, more useful, and more exploitable ones. Oftentimes, when things are left abandoned by humans, nature reclaims it in beautiful ways. This artwork depicts a human-like robot that is broken and left abandoned for so long that nature is reclaiming her by using her as both a home and as a protector in spite of her loss as a tool for humans.

Mortality Series
Ceramic
2020
This is the first of the Mortality Series inspired by a song called Pink + White. The swimming pool is shaped like an eye and a giant wave is inside of the iris that threatens to
completely empty itself from the eye, however it falls contained in the pool. The concept behind this is sadness and how we attempt to control and keep our emotions contained, especially when grieving.

Mortality Series
Ceramics, x, 2020
This is the second of the Mortality Series inspired by a song called Pink + White. The human face is alive on one side and on the other side her skull is visible. A snake weaves
in and out of her face and wraps itself around a lotus flower. These all allude to the idea of life, death, and rebirth.

Mortality Series
Ceramic
2020
This is the final piece of the Mortality Series. The snake and egg represent the beginning and end of the life cycle. The snake's body is wrapped in an infinity sign to depict how
this cycle of life is endless, as living things persevere for survival of their species and their stories. The pulse of the water also represents the pulse of life and how a single life can vibrate and affect all around it in spite of its mortality.

Cyborg
Oil on Wood Panel
2020
A cyborg man sitting in a chair with a apocalyptic scene behind him.

Vietnamese American
Air dry clay with acrylic paint
2020
A model house painted with acrylic.

Dollhouse
Air-dry Clay with Acrylic Paint
2020
This is a self portrait that depicts parts of the subconscious and conscious mind. The human head is realistic and has an expression of content. The small doll-sized objects such
as the video game, playing cards, bottles, and other objects represent metaphorical meanings of emotions as well as true memories.