Phung Huynh
Lotus Pond, 2008
Oil and collage on wood
24 x 21 in. (61 x 53.3 cm)
Courtesy of the artist, and Sam Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, California

Lotus Pond is from Phung Huynh’s current series of paintings entitled Disorientation. It is largely inspired by Chinese auspicious imagery and reflects her long held interest in the seminal work of Edward Said on the subject of Orientalism. The depiction of carp and lotus flowers symbolizes prosperity, and is typical “auspicious” imagery. Particular combinations of objects, figures, and landscapes procure a specific omen, or good fortune. Huynh explains that such pictorial combinations can also function as homophones that produce alternate meanings (when the Chinese words "lotus" and "fish" are pronounced together, the words themselves sound like "living a good life for a long time"). In describing these paintings as a type of disorientation, Huynh alludes to Said's definition of the Orient, of a particular exoticizing of objects and figures that are Eastern in ways that are both delightful and horrifying. The series also questions how we culturally align ourselves, and how we choose to orient our [mis]interpretations of visual culture.

Huynh received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California in 1999, and her Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University in New York City in 2001. Huynh has received commissions from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Laurel Canyon Station, Rolling Stone Magazine, and American Airlines, among others. For more information, please visit: www.samleegallery.com.