Phuong Anh Dang

Artist Biography

My greatest inspiration is my mother, who was a successful fashion designer and painter back in my home country. She has always encouraged me to pursue what I love, and I am lucky enough to always have the support and opportunity to explore my artistic freedom in various mediums. Although art is a profound passion of mine, I realize that it is not an easy path to follow and I did not want to risk losing my love for it. The following collection is inspired by a sense of nostalgia and a fascination with beauty in a complex world where perhaps nothing really matters.

The Organized Kitchen

This work started as a depiction of a lost childhood with a girl fixing her teddy bear as she sits on her white kitchen counter. However, as it progressed, the empty room gradually turned into a collection of things from childhood to adulthood, from colorful cartoon characters to monotone designer shoes. Then, one day in class, my friend looked at the drawing and suggested I add a French cockroach — whatever that’s supposed to be. One idea led to 20 more: a dancing spider trapped in a jar of pills, a giant sonny angel baby wearing a tiara, a birthday cake-flavoured pizza with cigarettes for candles. The collection of memories became one of the ideas, a revival of childhood imagination.

The Mansion in Fairytales

Inspired by the enchanting Wonderland, this house is a visual remembrance of the nostalgia of fairytales, childhood movies, and the disorder and illogicality of them. Every detail, though out of place, is connected to a certain unknown narrative: at the bottom of the staircase is a wanted poster of a cow with green spots, that cow is in fact operating the UFO that happens to have a police siren hat – why? In truth, this is a work of nonsense that, like stories and films we all watched as kids, are not to be questioned.

The Treehouse

The Treehouse is a place where you can relive that which you have already lived, but where you do not live. It is not a house.