Artist
Tomas Vu
Artist
Born in Saignon in Vietnam, Tomas Vu grew up during the war. Traces of his origins and personal memories can be found in his artistic work, which depict the epic conflict between man and machine, nature and technology, showing his view of a decisive tension in our modern area. Layered open spaces, interpenetrating different dimensions: he creates spaces with the capacity to blur the line between imagination and memory, as seen in his series Flatland or Opium Dreams. Nuanced details and gigantic forms lead the viewer to fully immerse themselves in his transformative body of work. After moving with his family to El Paso in Texas as a young boy, he graduated with a BFA from the University of Texas in 1987 and continued studying at Yale University, finishing his studies in 1990. Since 1996 he has been Professor at the Columbia University School of Arts and in 2000 was appointed as the LeRoy Neiman Professor of Visual Arts, also serving as Artistic Director of the Neiman Center. Vu has exhibited throughout the USA and internationally, with solo exhibitions in several museums in China, Japan, Italy, and Vietnam. He has received numerous awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Award and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship. He lives and works in New York.
