Brian Vu

BIO

Brian Vu is an interdisciplinary artist based in Seattle, WA (born in Dallas, TX). Brian holds an MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA in ceramics and contemporary dance from Bennington College. Brian has exhibited group and solo shows nationally in the USA at: David Salkin Creative - Chicago, IL, G1 Exhibition Space - Pittsburg, PA, USDAN Gallery at Bennington College - Bennington, VT, Locust Projects - Miami, FL, BSWING - Minneapolis, MN, Cranbrook Art Museum - Detroit, MI, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft - Houston, TX, Pottery Northwest - Seattle, WA, Anderson Ranch Arts Center - Aspen, CO, Gallery 110 - Seattle, WA, and Goggleworks Center for the Arts - Reading, PA.

Brian has been awarded fellowships and completed residencies from: Locust Projects, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency, Woodbury Foundation Fellowship for Bennington College Alumni, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Brian is a current Long-Term Artist-in-Residence at Pottery Northwest 2020-2023 and has received the 2022 Emerging Artist Scholarship at Gallery 110 in Seattle, WA.

ARTIST STATEMENT

A cup leaves a circular stain on a table: it is picked up and placed down on the same spot again, and again. It is both intentional and involuntary. It is a consistent improvisation; repeating learned, improving mundane daily tasks towards an unconscious efficiency and intended function. I am interested in creating props or stand-ins that reference the household and the performance of daily functions that become emotionless yet still essential. My compositions address the improvisation of memory with the mundane and domestic. References and rhythms become more abstract, minimal and analogous to each other, effectively queering the languages. I aim to render ceramic and non ceramic materials with equal importance that then arrive at intersectional, nuanced, and formal conversations.

Interview with Brian Vu

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in becoming an artist? Who or what were some of your most important early influences?

I am Vietnamese American - born and raised in North Texas and was influenced by various art forms at an early age.

I eventually went to college for a Bachelor of Arts in both Fine Arts and Dance (Bennington College) and later got an MFA in Ceramics (Cranbrook Academy of Art).

Impressionism, still life and landscape paintings, fairy tales, the color of toys and their advertisements during the 90’s and early aughts, and living in the suburbs in Texas were some early influences.

Any stories you can share about early memories of how an aspect of the arts impacted you?

Not really a story but I excelled in the arts growing up and eventually made a career out of it. Being quite eccentric and part of the LGBTQIA+, I felt the visual and performing arts were a safe place for me earlier on.

Where are you currently based and what initially brought you there? Are there any aspects of this specific location or community that have inspired your work?

I am currently based in Seattle, WA where I have full-time job and my studio practice. I originally came for a residency and currently still am resident at the program.

I wouldn’t say that there are super specific things that inspire me here but possibly the prominent grays with moments of color in the city have some influence albeit non overt in my work.

Can you describe your studio space? What are some of the most crucial aspects of a studio that make it functional? Do any of these specific aspects directly affect your work?

I just moved to a new underground, shared studio space with the other residents in my program. So it is quite small but it’s free at least.

As an artist that predominately works in clay, I need my potter’s wheel, sink, kiln, spray booth etc - anything you would need for a ceramics studio…. and air conditioning is always nice. A fully equipped metal and wood shop are other things I need to make my work as well.

Yes, you need these things in a ceramics studio in order for the work to be made.

What is a typical day like? If you don't have a typical day, what is an ideal day?

I work a 9-5 job at a non profit (with life things: gym, coffee, laundry, groceries) and somehow fit in a studio practice when I can. This used to be more erratic before moving to Seattle with weird overnight working times.

What gets you in a creative groove or flow? Are snacks involved?

I wouldn’t say it’s a creative groove or flow. My mood affects if I’m going to go to the studio or not. There are multiple philosophies, theories, psychoanalyses, and my interpretation of minimalism and formalism that i work within. I usually have blue prints that i sketch ahead of time or a palette of colors i want to work with and go from there.

I don’t typically eat in the studio. Although, I quite enjoy coffee.

Is there anything that interrupts and stagnates your creative energy?

Depression, the state of the world, too many people in the space I’m working, and the need for actual rest from doing all the adult things.

How do you select materials? How long have you worked with this particular media or method?

I work predominantly with ceramics, paint, wood, metal with various other materials. It depends on what I am looking for in the work.

I have worked with all for quite a while.

Can you walk us through your overall process? How long has this approach been a part of your practice?

I think most of the time I start things with color and composition first, then comes the theory and the stakes the work has, then reasoning with what materials that are most needed in making the work, and finally making and completing the work. Or the opposite, depending on what the work is about.

I’ve worked like this since graduate school.

Can you talk about some of the ongoing interests, imagery, and concepts that have informed your process and body of work over time? How do you anticipate your work progressing in the future?

Architecture of domestic settings is usually what i look at (the house paint used, doors, arches, if the floor is wood/carpet, bedding, daytime and night lighting, light fixtures, cabinets, noise level of the space throughout a day, bedding, kitchenware, etc) and the shape of negative space is another big one.

My work has gotten more abstract and strange as time goes by. But I’m usually more interested in the present and what energy and perspective I can place in this moment in time instead of hypotheticals.

Do you pursue any collaborations, projects, or careers in addition to your studio practice? If so, can you tell us more about those projects, and are there connections between your studio practice and these endeavors?

Every now and then when I am using dance performance as the initial medium I tend to collaborate. Sometimes when showing works together i will seek out individuals that might be interested in collaborating with me. These moments are times that I need to work with someone instead of alone in fabricating ideas or need another set of eyes to see the larger picture of what the work is actually about.

Have you had any epiphanies recently that have changed the course of your work or caused you to shift directions?

I took a brief hiatus from making work and living life outside the studio for a moment. Not everything about life needs to happen in the studio no matter how deep you are in your practice. I needed a break from constantly making albeit with no burnout - I needed to be social outside the studio. So I am not in the studio constantly anymore and only when the work needs to happen. I like to have a healthy work/life balance.

As a result of the pandemic, many artists have experienced limited access to their studios or loss of exhibitions, income, or other opportunities. Has your way of working (or not working) shifted significantly during this time? Are there unexpected insights or particular challenges you’ve experienced?

I was already in a position with residencies that required less contact and rescheduling so i made a lot of work during the height of the pandemic. Finding income when moving around a lot was difficult however I tend to be prepared and worked with what i had albeit difficult.

Deciding to finally stay in one place was a first for me. I ended up giving up opportunities because i decided to stay in Seattle.

I made a lot more work within series that are still ongoing. After awhile, I needed to live life outside the studio for a bit and took a brief hiatus while working my 9-5 job.

I think that being so ingrained in art and art making one can lose contact with reality a bit (especially when you have other means of making income on top of your practice). It’s beneficial to be outside for a bit.

Can you share some of your recent influences? Are there specific works—from visual art, literature, film, or music—that are important to you?

I think that the vast consumption of digital media has deterred me from taking part in too much in visual or artistic influences lately (especially highly commercial art). (Does everything have to have paid advertisements in it?)

Within viewing visual arts, I currently do not find a lot of inspiration or something that comes to mind immediately as the field is saturated to opposite degrees. I find the evolving attitude towards dismantling and rebuilding what we understand about art (especially in a western context) is becoming more equitable for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals. The lens and context for what constitute good and sellable art is being analyzed.

Who are some contemporary artists you’re excited about? What are the best exhibitions you’ve seen in recent memory and why do they stand out?

Right before everything shut down with the pandemic, I really wanted to see the Donald Judd Retrospective at MoMA in NYC but saw it digitally online. I was reading Judd interviews and writings during the early parts of the pandemic with a Trisha Brown biography. I ended up distancing myself from Judd because of the writings even though his work has influenced me earlier on. I haven’t really seen a show that i remembered in a while.

I was at the Dia: Beacon Fall 2019 about 6 months before everything shut down and that was nice.

There are literally so many shows and artists to look at at the moment… (If I revisit anything, I usually look at contemporary dance than i do visual art i.e. Trisha Brown, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Theo Clinkard, Boris Charmatz.)

Do you have any tips or advice that someone has shared with you that you have found particularly helpful?

Not really, a lot of “actual” advice in the art world is given and works for those who fit a certain demographic that isn’t my demographic or identity. There has long been disparities for those that do not identify with the status quo (white, christian, hetero, cis, wealthy, and well connected, etc). I’ve gotten as far as I have on my own terms and I created the work I wanted to create - no formula fits all for those outside the existing system and it is very hard to continue making work in a system that wasn’t made for marginalized groups.

but also:

“go to bed” - is good advice.

I tend to stay up way too late working on something or just in general and as I get older I can’t keep up with the energy i had in the past.

What are you working on in the studio right now? What’s coming up next for you?

more color compositions before the physical work can come out.

Tomorrow is next.

Anything else you would like to share?

I’m a Capricorn sun, moon, and rising for starters.

To find out more about Brian Vu check out his Instagram and website.