Artist Bio
Nguyen Khai (Khai Buu) was born in Hue, South Vietnam in 1940. He graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in 1963. He is one of the founders of the prestigious Association of Young Vietnamese Artists and won the Bronze Medal at a Spring Art Exhibition in Saigon even before his graduation. In 1981, after six years of communist regime, Nguyen Khai and his family resettled in California where he was able to re-gain his artistic freedom.
Nguyen Khai is known for his creativity, imagery and strong use of color. He delves deep into his cultural past and new western experience for inspiration. His oil paintings evoke romantic interludes, nostalgic yearnings and sensuous beauty. Khai's talent extends to include non-traditional art such as abstract, mixed media and stone carvings. Nguyen Khai has created a series of mixed media designed to explore the effects of technology on human life and spirituality which he named "Mankind and Computers".
Nguyen Khai Selected Exhibitions
2007 Palette Art Gallery, Houston, Texas
2006 Viet Bao Kinh Te Gallery, Garden Grove, California
2005 Viet Art Gallery, Houston, Texas
2004 Hoa Mai Gallery, Paris, France
2003 "40 Years of Artistry," Vien Dong Gallery, California
2002 Vinh Loi Gallery, Saigon, Vietnam
2001 Old Courthouse Museum, California
2000 Artcore L.A. Gallery, California
1998 Cuttress Gallery, Pomona, California
1997 "Salt & Pepper," Institute of Contemporary Art Gallery, San Jose, California
1996 Pacific Asian Museum, Pasadena, California
1995-98 Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition
1995 Ryal Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida
1994 "East & West," Wignall Museum, California
1987 UCLA Art Gallery, Burbank, California
1982 UC Irvine Gallery of Art, California
1969 The Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil
1968 The New Delhi Biennial, India
1967 The Tokyo Biennial, Japan
1965 The Paris Biennial, France
Featured in the Following Books:
Vietnamese Paintings - From Tradition To Modernity
Corinne de Menonville
2003 - Les Editions d'Art d' Histoire, ARHIS
My Thuat Viet Nam Hien Dai
2005 - Vien My thuat - Truong Dai hoc My thuat Ha Noi
Huynh Huu Uy - Nghe Thuat Tao Ninh Viet Nam Hien Dai
2008 Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Assoc. CA