Artist of the month: Darlene
Nguyen-Ely
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Darlene Nguyen-Ely
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Darlene Nguyen-Ely was born in Saigon in 1968. In
1975, at the age of seven, she joined scores of other Vietnamese "boat people"
seeking refuge from the war. She was on one of the last boats to leave the country at the
end of the war. After spending a year at a refugee camp in Hong-Kong, she immigrated to
the United States. This journey has had great influence on here artistic expression. |
Shrine V from 1993
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Tuna from 1992
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Whirligig from 1993 (sideview)
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Early works by Darlene
Nguyen-Ely had often forms and were made of material that one might associate
with rural Vietnam. Good examples of this period are the three works above.
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Darlene
Nguyen-Ely sculptures were often based on the structure of boats and airplanes,
which might be related to her travel from Vietnam to the USA.
In 1993 she participated in the competition of the new Penn landing site in Philadelphia.
Here painting of the site is seen on the left. Again we can recognise the sails of
South-East Asia. Unfortunately here idea was not chosen for the site, although it got
excellent critics.
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While working on earlier pieces that dealt with images of movement, Darlene Nguyen-Ely became interested in the
structure of the ships and airplanes that symbolize travel. After breaking down these
machines to their basic components she noticed a similarity to the basic building block of
animal and plant life, the cell. The simple elegant forms of multi-cell plants and animals
seem a natural extension of earlier transportation forms.
Working with delicate strips of balsa wood and minute aluminium nailes, Darlene Nguyen-Ely formed honeycombed sculptures
with small chambers, many containing photo-transfer images - images that are
difficult to see. A good example of this type of work is Vite from 1996
(left) with a closeup view on the right. |
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In the studio
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Journey 60 from 1999
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Fishaero from 1999
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Recent work by Darlene Nguyen-Ely
consists of simple, eccentric shapes created by constructing wood skeletons, coating them
with a translucent skin of fiberglass and/or thin wood strips. The sculpted objects
immediately call to mind a wide range of natural forms from bean pods and insect
bodies to the bodies and wings of flying creatures. Earlier forms derived from
boats and airplanes are also much in evidence: rudders, sails, fuselages, and the hulls of
fishing vessels. Metaphors for birth, flight and motion are easily read into these
forms. The skeletal structure of spruce and poplar bentwood seen through the amber
coating of fiberglass attests to careful craftsmanship.
Good examples of here recent work are Journey 60 and Fishaero
(above) and the wood wall sculptures below that she has molded into forms that can be
related to both nature and movement. Journey
77 and Journey 78 on display and for
sale in the ArtNetGallery
are also good examples of her most recent work. |
Downaero from 1999
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Slabaero from 1998
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