PARIS.- Almine Rech announced the global representation of Vietnamese artist Tia-Thuy Nguyen. The gallery will present her first solo exhibition Sparkle in the vastness at Almine Rech Paris, Matignon, opening on January 11, 2024.

Tia-Thuy Nguyen (Tia-Thủy Nguyễn, born in 1981 in Hanoi) is a Vietnamese artist who has made significant contributions to contemporary art in Vietnam. After completing her education, including a PhD in Fine Arts in Ukraine, she returned to Vietnam and founded The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, the country's first purpose-built space for contemporary art. She has ventured into fashion with her Vietnam oriented brand Thuy Design House, and also into film production with Xuong Phim Mau Hong, aiming to tell extraordinary Vietnamese cultural stories and inspire the community.

"When I first saw Tia-Thuy Nguyen paintings of skies I was immediately attracted to her imaginary vision of the space around us: the sky in its different atmospheres, from sunset to sunrise, to night. I was interested to know about her fascination with and interpretation of space.

I discovered her father was a pilot in the Vietnamese Air Force; he had retired after the Vietnam War before she was born, but Tia says: " I could only know these wartime stories through my dad. Even though I was not there in person, I can totally feel the suffering and the fury of war."

Her work conveys both the beauty and sense of apprehension the sky can bring; using a patient, time-intensive process to embellish her oil paintings on canvas with beads, the work expresses emotions such as the love, fear, and hope felt during the long days of waiting for a soldier or pilot to hopefully return from war."

— Almine Rech