Teo Nguyen: Việt Nam Peace Project
Teo Nguyễn: Giấc Mơ Hòa Bình
August 17, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Teo Nguyen’s solo museum exhibition invites contemplation and reflection on the Vietnamese people’s struggles toward peace and what the artist calls “the politics of worthiness.” His stories of heartbreak, optimism, resistance, and reconciliation that are interwoven into Vietnamese culture and spiritualism. His photorealist paintings reference historic images by photojournalists documenting the war in Vietnam but reimagine them without violence. By eliminating the helicopters, weapons, fighting, victims, and fallen soldiers, he reveals a country of diverse natural beauty. This act of reclamation shines a light on a Vietnam beyond the war, a place of rich culture and picturesque topography. Viet Nam Peace Project was on view at Minneapolis Institute of Art (July 30, 2022 – June 18, 2023). This iteration of the exhibition is curated by Christopher Atkins.
The reception for Viet Nam Peace Project will be on Thursday, August 17, 2023, from 5:00pm – 7:00pm.

Teo Nguyen
I only wished to sit with you to say a word or two/ VÀI LỜI TÂM SỰ, 2016
acrylic on vellum, mounted on aluminum
16 1/2 x 17 1/2″