Winning hearts and Minds

Ahn Trần’s gestural abstraction is characterised by its immersive scale, dynamic brushstrokes, poetic titles and washes of vibrant colour. She considers the painting process as a private performance, embodied through varied and energetic mark making. She describes it as ‘dancing in a way – just for myself, it is me in the studio with the paint, the canvas, and the brush’.

Trần’s canvases are rich with art-historical references: the recurring letter ‘I’ nods to New Zealand painter Colin McCahon, while her intuitive painting technique recalls the gestural sweeps of American Abstract Expressionism. Her experiences of migration – moving from Vietnam to Aotearoa at the age of 19, a two-year residency in Amsterdam 10 years later, and now a home in Berlin – give her a uniquely decentred perspective on these canons of painting. – Ruth Minh Ha, Aotearoa Contemporary, 2024

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