Secret Butterfly Heaven

2008

Tam Van Tran

(American, b. 1966)

Culture

America

Medium

acrylic, staples, color pencil on canvas and paper

Measurements

Overall: 253.9 x 233.6 x 129.5 cm (99 15/16 x 91 15/16 x 51 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Contemporary Art Society and Sundry Art-Contemporary Fund 2009.17

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

The topographies of Tam Van Tran’s painted constructions evoke wavy landscapes and disrupted surfaces. The large-scale works are made of paper strips stapled into tectonic waves, pixilated with lines of punched holes. With this technique, the artist explores the language of painting by blurring the boundaries between the two-dimensional plane of the canvas and the three-dimensionality of sculpture. The combination of references to Western and Eastern aesthetics and the hybrid form reflect Tran’s disparate personal background: his escape from Vietnam in 1975 and his encounter with another culture and society in the United States.