Mylyn Nguyen

Mylyn Nguyen has developed several solo exhibitions that have humorously explored her childhood memories and curiosities. These comprehensive bodies of work, as well as several smaller projects, have varied in appearance, approach and materials yet all are imbued with an incredible skill and wondrous imagination that continues to extend the sense of spectacle and intrigue her artworks generate.

Nguyen received a Master of Visual Arts in 2006 from Sydney College of the Arts, with her sculpture in the University exhibition, Utility, receiving a commendation. This marked a pivotal point in the development and direction of her work. Notably since then, Nguyen has exhibited internationally twice with Brenda May Gallery/MAY SPACE at Art Stage Singapore.

In recent years, Nguyen completed a number of public commissions. Using commonplace objects and intricately folded, cut and painted paper insects she made peep boxes hidden in the walls of the Murray Art Museum, Albury. She also made and installed hundreds of paper koi fish seen beneath people’s feet at Customs House, Sydney for Something Else is Alive, presented by the City of Sydney and The Curators’ Department. This followed on from her commission for Installation Contemporary in 2015, a curated component of Sydney Contemporary, where she made a site-specific installation of paper moth-filled habitats underfoot in the subterranean cavity in the main entrance of Carriageworks.

“I owe a lot of my philosophy and process to my high school art teachers. My first art teacher in high school was the first to recognise me as an artist. He spoke to me with such respect to my skill and adaptability that it didn’t occur to me that any medium, style or subject was out of reach. My second art teacher’s words still play in my head when I make anything; ‘artworks must be interesting from all angles’.” – Mylyn Nguyen