PHOENIX, AZ.- Phoenix Art Museum announces the acquisition of Reflection Between Flashes (2023) by Vietnam-based artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen. The work is the latest purchased by the Museum with funds from Men’s Arts Council and the first by Nguyen acquired into the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 objects. Nguyen, whose work was recently presented in a solo exhibition at James Cohan in New York City, is internationally renowned for his video and sculpture that examine colonial histories and supernaturalisms by tapping into inherited histories and counter-memory. His work Reflection Between Flashes is inspired by the kinetic works of Alexander Calder but is cast from salvaged unexploded munitions recovered in Central Vietnam. The mobile, which expands representation of contemporary Southeast Asian artists in the Museum’s collection, will be on view at the Museum beginning April 25, 2026.

“The kinetic work of Tuan Andrew Nguyen is an extraordinary addition to the PhxArt Collection,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “Nguyen’s work regularly unearths stories of resilience, community, and regeneration, reminding us all of the memories that objects and materials can hold and how artists can transform them to be seen and experienced in new ways by contemporary audiences. We are deeply grateful to Men’s Arts Council for supporting the acquisition of this work, and we look forward to sharing it with our visitors.”

Born in Saigon and now based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Nguyen and his family emigrated in 1979 as refugees to the United States. In 1999, he graduated from the Fine Arts program at University of California, Irvine, and in 2004 earned his Master of Fine Arts from The California Institute of the Arts in 2004. Nguyen is a co-founder and former board member of Sàn Art and was a founding member of The Propeller Group.

Nguyen's most recent sculptures are made from unexploded ordnance (UXO) recovered in the Quang Trị region of central Vietnam, the site of the largest aerial bombardment in history. Reflection Between Flashes, the form of which is inspired by cascading mobiles by Alexander Calder, features 12 plate bells, seven of which are cast from salvaged artillery shell brass, while the remaining five are stainless steel incorporating salvaged bomb metal. The elegant form of the monumental hanging mobile stands in stark contrast to the brutal origins of the materials used to create it. This kinetic artwork moves with the flow of air and vibrations of sound in the gallery space in which it exists, creating a naturally shifting play of abstract spatial relationships that suggest a state of perpetual change. Nguyen worked with a sound healer to tune the work to a series of pitches centered around 432 Hz, a frequency associated with healing energies and the vibration of the cosmos.

“Much of Nguyen’s recent work focuses on creating harmony where there has been destruction and loss.” said Colin Pearson, the Museum’s curator of Asian art. “Reflections Between Flashes continues this thread and embodies his concept of ‘material reincarnation’ in a kinetic work that produces visual and musical harmony from the detritus of the war in Vietnam. Guests will witness the sculpture slowly shift and rotate, activated by the invisible movement of air, while contemplating the delicate balance that suspends each piece. We will occasionally have the opportunity to activate its auditory capabilities as well. Nguyen’s use of melted bomb and artillery shells draws our attention to the frightening origin of the metal, and to the salvage workers in northern Vietnam who still perform the dangerous work of harvesting unexploded ordnance more than five decades after the end of the war. My hope is that people will both appreciate the beauty of Reflections Between Flashes and reflect on the long aftereffects that warfare has on the people and places involved.”

In the months since MAC sponsored this acquisition, Nguyen was announced as a 2025 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant”, and he was chosen for a prestigious High Line Plinth commission for a monumental sculpture in New York City’s High Line park. Nguyen has had major solo presentations at the New Museum, New York, NY; Fondació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain; Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC. His work is in the permanent collections of several distinguished national and international collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Carré d’Art - Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, France; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Taguchi Art Collection, Japan; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and now, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ.
“We are incredibly proud to support the acquisition of Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s powerful sculpture for the Phoenix Art Museum collection,” said Sentari Minor, president, Men’s Arts Council. “This work speaks to transformation, resilience, and the enduring human capacity to create beauty from the remnants of conflict. By bringing Nguyen’s voice into the Museum’s Asian art holdings, we are expanding not only representation but also the depth and complexity of the stories told within the galleries. It’s important for our community to encounter contemporary works that challenge, reflect, and inspire—and this sculpture does exactly that.”