October is Artist Book Month at Art in Flux. Each Wednesday evening, 6:00-8:00PM in October one visual artist will share their book(s) with visitors along with a discussion / interview at 6:30. The discussions will be held at the intimate storefront gallery located at 163 Malcolm X Blvd between 118 and 119th Streets, NYC.

October 26: Tammy Nguyen in collaboration with Passenger Pigeon Press, Moderator, Barbara Stehle, Founder and Director Art Intelligentsia

Tammy Nguyen
Tammy Nguyen, a Fulbright scholar, earned her MFA at Yale University School of Art. She makes paintings, artist’s books, and works-on-paper that tell stories through images and their materiality. The characters and environments that appear in these artworks are all proxies for human conditions that feel paradoxical: the bicultural tension of having roots in multiple traditions, the fear of dying yet thirst for danger, or the guilt and pleasure of breaking ethical codes. A skeptic and at the same time a believer of values from her multicultural upbringing, her artworks are new myths that reference folkloric representations of animals and nature. However, unlike images that emerge from folklore, Tammy draws from life and illustrates facts from biology that suggest human behavior and psychology. At first glance, her artworks look like lush fantasies like something from a children’s book. However, upon further inspection, the visual narratives are often vulgar and sometimes violent. Conjoined birds try to split, despite needing the other to survive. A hooded child appears to have innocent eyes in one artwork, yet she savagely eats a bird in another. Her work seduces viewers to look and then through the process of observation ideas unravel and defy expectations. In September 2016 Tammy launched Passenger Pigeon Press, an independent press that addresses geopolitics, science, and identity through visual art and writing. Passenger Pigeon Press houses Martha’s Quarterly, artist collaborations, and custom projects.