Vivian Nguyen’s Artistic Vision for LAAPFF PRESENTS: HONG GENERATIONS OF CINEMA

We are glad to be in community with artist and graphic designer Vivian Nguyen, who created the beautiful artwork for LAAPFF PRESENTS: HONG KONG GENERATIONS OF CINEMA. Read below to learn more about VIvian and her inspirations behind this artwork! Thank you, Vivian! 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Vivian Nguyen is an artist and graphic designer currently residing in Los Angeles. She was raised in Anaheim and Riverside, California. Ever since childhood, she’s had a passion for the arts. However, as she grew up in a low-income family, it was difficult to continue pursuing her passion for drawing when her family did not approve of the creative field. However, she didn’t give up on her dream.

Currently, she is a rising senior at UCLA studying Design | Media Arts, a selective program for aspiring new media artists and designers. Currently, she has gravitated towards UX and visual design as her career path, but dabbles in art and drawing in her free time.

Throughout college, she has worked with nonprofits and in tech as a designer. She has interned as a designer at Apple and Honda in 2021 and 2022. She was heavily active in her club, LA Blueprint, and served as the Vice President of Design during her third year. She has personally collaborated with the nonprofits: the Program for Torture Victims, Farm2People, and the Autism Society of Los Angeles. She was also active as a designer for the Vietnamese Student Union.

ABOUT THE ART

“This piece represents my visual interpretation of ‘Generations of Cinema.’ I remember enjoying Hong Kong films with my parents when I was younger, so I felt waves of memories and nostalgia while going through the list of films. I grew up as a traditional hyper-realism portraiture artist, and I wanted to share my vision and perspective in my preferred medium.

I wanted to create this artwork with a juxtaposition of old and new techniques to represent the many generations of Hong Kong cinema. The colors (red, blue, green, teal, ivory) are colors that I see when I close my eyes and imagine Hong Kong. This color palette gives me the nostalgic feeling of watching Wong Kar Wai’s films as a child.

Despite these films being from different generations, the unique aura of Hong Kong is present in all of them. I took screen captures of the films and organized the portraits to create a composition that equally captures the essence of the older films and newer films. From left to right, top to bottom, the portraits represent: No Law No Heaven, Heroic Trio, The Last Ferry from Grass Island, Twilight’s Kiss (Suk Suk), and The Hand.

There are two films being shown that were more difficult to encapsulate through a portrait. To Know Her is a poetic exploration of the camera's gaze and a family's relationship with the filmmaker's mother. To visualize the film as a whole, I drew a camcorder. In Passing is an animated short film that follows two protagonists who are living in the same apartment complex, who seem connected through planes, so I drew a plane in my composition.

“I hope that everyone can see the heart and beauty of Hong Kong cinema through my work!” Vivian Nguyen.

To see full schedule, film lineup and synopses, visit https://laapffpresents.eventive.org/welcome.