Yui Nguyen
Academic Artist
10
Years in Practice
Impermanence
Vô Thường
Medium:
Watercolor
Size:
70 cm
70 cm
Year:
2024
A circular field holds a quiet pond in ochre light, a single pale lotus lifts above dark water while nearby leaves sink and curl. The round format functions as a tondo, a composition contained by the circle that emphasizes continuous movement and inward focus. The subject and title meet in the Buddhist idea of impermanence, which names all conditioned things as transient and inconstant.
Lotus carries a specific cultural charge in Vietnam, where it is widely treated as a national emblem and a sign of purity, resilience, and moral clarity, rising clean from muddy water. The flower’s upward reach against the spent leaves turns symbolism into structure. The Hue note further grounds the mood, the imperial city is organized around the Perfume River and lakes where lotus and calm water are part of the landscape and ritual life.
Nguyen edits forms to essentials, keeps color low and warm, and lets the circle and the lotus carry the meaning.
about the artist
Yui Nguyen is a writer and visual artist in Ho Chi Minh City. He contributes cultural pieces to Vietcetera, where his work connects everyday life to design, language, and craft, in a clear, conversational voice. In the studio he moves between painting, calligraphy, and language experiments. He co-leads Our Vietnamese Project with Pham Phan Nhan, a research practice that treats Vietnamese as a living system inside computational art.
In 2025 the project was named a Lumen Prize Literature and Poetry Award finalist. The shortlist credits Nhan Phan and Yui Nguyen for work that probes the monosyllabic structure of Vietnamese through custom tools and poetics.