Darlene Nguyen-Ely

Born in Saigon in  1968, Darlene Nguyen-Elyís life in her own country was short lived. In 1975 at the age of seven, Darlene joined scores of other Vietnamese "boat people" seeking refuge from the war. After spending a year at a refugee camp in Hong Kong, she immigrated to theUnited States. Nguyen-Ely's sculptures have been based on the structure of boats and airplanes are, most obviously, informed by her pilgrimage to America. In some of her work, she joins traditional and high tech materials: tiny computer-manipulated images rest inside wood sculptures that she molds into shape. Her new work 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.

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