Photo-realist painter Teo Nguyen creates both large-scale paintings that depict the serenity of Midwestern landscapes and abstract paintings. An immigrant of Vietnam, Nguyen moved to the United States when he was 16. He studied art and design at De Anza College, San Francisco, Fresno State University, California, and École des Beaux-Arts, Paris.

Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, May 5, 4–7 pm.

The exhibition is free, accessible, and open to the public. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 10:30–5:30. The Marsden/Gustafson Gallery is located at FilmNorth, 550 Vandalia Street, Suite 120, St. Paul, MN 55114.

“As an immigrant and an artist, I have learned to embrace the American spirit of freedom that says if you see a road that interests you, go ahead: venture down it. Even so, I am always a stranger to what I see; always slightly outside, finding in what is ordinary to others something tender and strange. It is from that vantage point that I have explored the Middle West, my home for nearly a decade, where the beauty that lies between the earth and the sky mesmerizes me. I am an observer. I am a painter. I venture to the end of dirt roads to discover what lies there, and return with a sketch, or just a memory. And a story I want to tell. The process of creating a composition and telling that story interests me. I capture the quiet beauty that surrounds me. That becomes a part of me. The beauty that already exists. Or sometimes, the way I want it to be. And so, the story begins.” –Teo Nguyen

Teo’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Plains Art Museum Fargo, North Dakota; Minnesota History Center, St. Paul; Burnet Gallery, Le Meridien Chambers Minneapolis; and the Soap Factory, Minneapolis. His work was recently exhibited at the Union South Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Nguyen is currently represented by Burnet Fine Art & Advisory in Wayzata, MN.

FilmNorth, in partnership with Teo Nguyen, is a fiscal year 2018 recipient of a Cultural Community Partnership grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature; and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.