Thien Nguyen

A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE ARTIST

1. What do you do when you’re not making art? (Day job etc...).

I am a full time custom picture framer and have been doing it for a long time. I always had the interest in custom framing. I love making a vessel for art as well as preserving them for a home or a place of business. It's full circle for me as a creator. When I'm not at work or making artwork, I am spending time with my wife or eating something new. We both love to try new food and tend to travel for it.

2. Why do you make art?

I have always worked with my hands and started drawing when I was a young teen. After taking my first painting class in high school I decided then that I will pursue painting and never really looked back.

3. What inspires you?

I am inspired by nature, color, and shapes of every day life. My work is not so hard to understand. Whatever intrigues me will have a space in my memory to use later as vocabulary when I paint; like a rapper or lyricist with words. My wife is in the medical field and her hard work inspires me to be better everyday. It's always been that way since I met her in grade school.

4. What/who are your influences?

I am not sure if I have an exact answer for this. Generally just someone who obviously puts a lot of time and effort into what they do and refines it with a certain aesthetics. It doesn't have to in the art field either. Anyone who looks at things differently and exudes their love for details is someone I'd always want to emulate.

5. If you could meet anyone dead or alive who would it be?

Tupac Shakur, I would like to know who shot and killed him.