PHUNG HUYNH

The Smokers, oil paint on canvas, 48" x 36," 2015

Beyond the Garden, oil and enamel paint on canvas, 50" x 54," 2017

Three Graces​, oil paint on canvas, 42" x 42," 2016

Beauty Queen, oil on canvas, 48" x 36," 2016

Tea Party, oil and enamel paint on canvas, 60" x 60," 2017

Pretty Hurts

This body of work probes the questions of cultural perception and cultural authenticity through images of the Asian female body vis-à-vis plastic surgery. I reference Chinese feet-binding as one of the earliest forms of cosmetic surgery to contrast the antiquated canon of Asian feminine beauty (small feet, small eyes, a broad forehead, and small breasts) with the current trends of body image influenced by western canons that call for larger eyes, a delicate forehead, a taller nose, and larger breasts. I am interested in how contemporary plastic surgery on Asian women have not only obscured racial identity, but how it has also amplified the exoticism and Orientalist eroticism of Asian women. The awkward synthesis of traditional and non-traditional, of east and west, unravel ideas of cultural representations and stereotypes that challenge how we consume and interpret ethnographic signifiers.

Bleaching, oil paint on canvas, 42" x 42," 2016

Blossom Where You Are Planted, oil and enamel paint on canvas, 50" x 70," 2017

​Nose Sharpener, oil paint and collage on canvas, 20" x 20," 2016

Blue​, oil paint and collage on canvas, 20" x 20," 2016

Unbound, oil paint on collage on canvas, 20" x 20", 2015