Hello!
I'm Nini Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American artist and designer currently based in DFW, TX.
As of this moment, I’ve been making with:
- acrylic on canvas
- screen printing
- digital print products
and plan to take on:
- embroidery
- painting on fabric items
᪥ Art Statement & Practice ᪥
My current work revolves around my re-embrace of art and the act of creating, as I seek to realign myself to the comfort and joy I felt when I was younger, drawing cakes with crayons and creating snowman cities on Microsoft Paint. In this process, I’ve been drawing inspiration from my memories, concepts, and items that have stuck with me in my life. When reflecting, they appear in faded glimpses, and noises are more like hums, transparent layers that gradually become more alive when in focus. Throughout, the feeling is of sitting in silence, content in your space and company. In my work, I hope you also experience this reflection as you take in the simple forms, limited color scheme, and overlapping elements that become more evident up close. Then, while in observation, have a quiet moment of your own.
᪥ Background of My Journey ᪥
When I was a small child, I remember constantly drawing and being proud of everything I made, and so, back then, I believed creating art for fun in my free time, even something very simple, would be a constant in my life. However, as I got older, the less and less I made outside school and eventually I stopped after graduating university in 2022 as I became more focused on finding work, and that continued as I was working.
In 2023, after a year of not making anything creative in my own time, I finally forced myself to really sit down and brainstorm a painting, and in that process I came to realize a couple of things:
1. how hard it was for me to make something without an external motivator
2. the last time I made something for myself and for my own pure enjoyment was in elementary school
This led me into a downward spiral over how I viewed myself as an artist, trying to think of what my art style was, if it even existed, and if my work was worth being made. Once I got out, I decided from then on to be more intentional in what I make, and to create with the goal of getting the same feeling of excitement when I was younger making things at random.
Then, in 2025, after stepping away from my previous job and pretty burnt out, I wanted to spend my time recovering by re-aligning myself with what I value in life, which came with art. My main focus is to have fun and be proud of what I make, and by sharing, I hope my work brings joy to others as well.
For fun, above are a couple of photos of what I made for my VADA (Visual and Dramatic Arts) class of 2022 senior show. I consider this period a major turning to me, where when working on this room, it provided a glimpse into how I wanted art to act in my life.
For this room, the landscape on the glass panels was done with regular masking tape, pulling inspiration from Vietnamese lacquer paintings. Then when one enters the room, I wanted them experience a sense of peace, so I pulled from things I considered comforting and nostalgic. The elements involved was beyond just visual such as hiding Eagle Brand Medicated Oil around the room to provide a light scent.