# Tâm Văn Trần URL: https://vielmetter.com/artists/tam-van-tran/ Represented by Vielmetter Los Angeles Tam Van Tran’s abstract paintings, works on paper, ceramic sculptures, and mixed-media collages explore the language of painting and the natural world and the intersections of these with his Vietnamese heritage. His brightly colored and intricately textured works link his heritage with Western cultural traditions. Most recently, he is exploring the evocative possibilities of ceramic sculptures—masks, vessels, and glazed bricks—that reference the natural processes of environmental transformation and decay, migration and migratory patterns, and spiritual concepts—from meditation to Buddhism non-duality. Van Tran works with organic materials like spirulina, chlorophyll, food, wood, and more traditional art materials such as linen and acrylic canvases. His free-standing ceramic sculptures are hand-built from many overlapping circular slabs of clay, textured and glazed in a matte white, their subtly aquatic forms suggesting plate armor or scales, the formal references oscillating between science fiction and ancient civilizations. Smaller works are more intimate and reference altars and other material manifestations of devotion. At a moment where immigration and migration are daily topics of conversation and conflict, Van Tran’s quiet sculptures acknowledge these experiences and place deep value on those who migrate, whether by choice or necessity. Tam Van Tran was born in 1966 in Kon Tum, Vietnam, and lives and works in Los Angeles. He graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York and studied Animation at the Graduate School of Film and Animation at the University of California Los Angeles. He received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painting and the Pollock Krasner Fellowship in 2001. His work has been featured in solo museum exhibitions at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, TX; and the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville,TN. His work has been included in group exhibitions including *Carbon*, Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; *Drawing: The Beginning of Everything*, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; *Pattern: Follow the Rules*, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Lansing, MI; *east EX east*, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy; the 2004 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; *Paul Clay*, Salon 94, New York; Museum of Fine Art Houston, Houston, TX; the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, MA; the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA; *International Paper*, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and in the Drawing Biennial at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the ICA Boston, Boston, MA; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; among others. ## Exhibitions - [Tâm Văn Trần: Primordial Sounds of the Avatar](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/tam-van-tran-primordial-sounds-of-the-avatar.md): June 1 — July 6, 2024 · Gallery II · Artists: Tâm Văn Trần - [Plants Now!](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/plants-now.md): July 16 — August 26, 2022 · Gallery II & Greenhouse · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Math Bass, Whitney Bedford, Sadie Benning, Ellen Berkenblit, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Genevieve Gaignard, Nash Glynn, Raffi Kalenderian, Hugo McCloud, Rodney McMillian, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Nicola Tyson, Tâm Văn Trần, Ariane Vielmetter, Shanna Waddell, Esther Pearl Watson, Mark Todd, Patrick Wilson, Bari Ziperstein - [20 Years Anniversary Exhibition Part 1](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/20-year-anniversary-exhibition.md): July 18 — August 29, 2020 · Gallery I · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Math Bass, Whitney Bedford, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Sean Duffy, Nicole Eisenman, Genevieve Gaignard, Liz Glynn, Karl Haendel, Raffi Kalenderian, Ruben Ochoa, Stanya Kahn, Hayv Kahraman, Mary Kelly, Shana Lutker, Dave McKenzie, Rodney McMillian, Wangechi Mutu, Esther Pearl Watson, The Estate of Pope.L, Deborah Roberts, The Estate of Steve Roden, Stefanie Schneider, Amy Sillman, Arlene Shechet, John Sonsini, Monique van Genderen, Tâm Văn Trần, Patrick Wilson - [Tam Van Tran: Exodus](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2015-04-tam-van-tran-exodus.md): April 11 — May 23, 2015 · Artists: Tâm Văn Trần - [Tam Van Tran: Pattern: Follow The Rules](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2013-03-tam-van-tran-pattern-follow-the-rules.md): March 22 — June 22, 2013 · Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University · Artists: Tâm Văn Trần - [Tam Van Tran: Adornment of Basic Space](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2012-02-tam-van-tran-adornment-of-basic-space.md): February 18 — March 30, 2012 · Artists: Tâm Văn Trần - [Summer Group Show](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2010-08-edgar-arceneaux-whitney-bedford-andrea-bowers-summer-group-show.md): August 7 — 30, 2010 · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Whitney Bedford, Andrea Bowers, Jane Callister, Sean Duffy, Nicole Eisenman, Charles Gaines, Karl Haendel, Jutta Koether, Alice Könitz, Shana Lutker, Rodney McMillian, Martin McMurray, Wangechi Mutu, Elizabeth Neel, Ruben Ochoa, Amy Sillman, Joel Tauber, Tâm Văn Trần - [Inaugural Group Exhibition](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/culver-city-inaugural-group-exhibition.md): January 23 — March 6, 2010 · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Andrea Bowers, Jedediah Caesar, Olga Koumoundouros, Wangechi Mutu, Ruben Ochoa, The Estate of Steve Roden, Amy Sillman, Tâm Văn Trần, Patrick Wilson - [Tam Van Tran](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2008-12-tam-van-tran-tam-van-tran.md): December 20, 2008 — February 14, 2009 · Artists: Tâm Văn Trần - [Tam Van Tran: Beetle Manifesto](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2002-11-tam-van-tran-beetle-manifesto.md): November 23 — December 28, 2002 · Artists: Tâm Văn Trần ## Biography Born in Kontum, Vietnam Lives and works in Los Angeles 1996 Graduate Film and Television Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 1990 BFA Painting, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY **Selected Solo Exhibitions** 2024 "Primordial Sounds of the Avatar," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2017 "Black Melong," Ameringer, McEnery, Yohe, New York, NY 2015 "EXODUS," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA "Aikido Dream," MCA Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA "Breathing," Art Gallery, Long Beach City College, Long Beach, CA 2014 "Survival Skills," Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA 2013 "Leaves of Ore," Ameringer, McEnery, Yohe, New York, NY 2012 "Adornment of Basic Space," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA 2010 "Mind Is A Pure Expanse of Space," Anthony Meier Fine Art, San Francisco, CA 2008 "Tam van Tran," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA "Luminosity," Cohan and Leslie, New York, NY 2006 "Tam Van Tran: Psychonaut, Blaffer Gallery, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, Houston, TX "Purple System," Anthony Mier Fine Art, San Francisco, CA 2005 "SubUrban: Tam Van Tran," Knoxville Museum, Knoxville, TN 2004 "Tam Van Tran: Lord of Hot Butter," Anthony Meier Fine Art, San Francisco, CA 2003 "Vegetarian Summer", Cohan, Leslie and Browne, New York, NY 2002 "Beetle Manifesto", Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA "Lovers of Air," Leslie, Cohan and Browne, New York, NY 2001 "Lo-Tech Frequency," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA 2000 "Paintings," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA "Cold Frost," Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA **Selected Group Exhibitions** 2026 "Sangha," Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2025 "Primordial Procession," ATLA, Los Angeles, CA 2024 "Raffi & Al's Legendary Garden Party," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2023 "Pollen on a West Wind," Jason Jacques Gallery, New York, NY 2022 "The Hand that Forms a Mirror," MORÁN MORÁN, Los Angeles, CA "Plants Now!," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2020 "Pacific Coast Ceramics," Galeria Mascota, Aspen, CO "20 Years," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2018 “Carbon,” FOCA, Los Angeles, CA ([Link](http://focala.org/curators-lab/carbon-opening/)) 2017 “Drawing: The Beginning of Everything,” Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY “Man Alive,” Maruani Mercier, Brussels, Belgium 2015 "Paperworks," Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA 2013 "New works of painting, photography, sculpture and video" The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, FL "High Low," Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA "Pattern: Follow the Rules," Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Lansing, MI; traveling to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Denver, CO 2012 "Tam Van Tran and DeWey Ambrosino," San Art, Vietnam "Facing West/Looking East," Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA 2011 "Paul Clay," Salon 94, New York, NY "east EX east," Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy 2010 "Ascending Dragon: Contemporary Vietnamese Artists Exhibition," Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA "Fresh from Chelsea," University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL "Inaugural Group Exhibition," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA "Keramik," Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA 2009 "Topographies," Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY 2008 "California Dreaming," Seiler + Mosseri-Marlio, Zurich, Switzerland "Fata Morgana," Galerie Schmidt Maczollek, Cologne, France 2007 "Large Scale Drawings," MFA Houston, Houston, TX "Nineteen Going on Twenty: Recent Acquisitions from the Collection of The Contemporary Museum," The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI 2006 "Supervision," Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, MA 2005 "Around About Abstraction," Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC 2004 "The Whitney Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY "Topographies," San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA; Traveling to: The Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA (2004) "Art on Paper," Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC 2003 "International Paper," UCLA Hammer Museum, Santa Monica, CA 2002 ArtForum Berlin, Project Space, with Susanne Vielmetter Berlin Projects, Berlin, Germany "Friends and Family," Lombard Freid, New York, NY "Heike Kati Barath, Jeff Elrod, Sarah Rapson, Tam Van Tran, Cornelius Voelker, Clare Woods," Cohan, Leslie, and Browne, New York, NY 2001 "Fractals," Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA "New Work: LA Painting," Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA "Song Poems," Leslie, Cohan and Browne, New York, NY 2000 "Radar Love," Gallery Marabini, Bologna, Italy "Car Pooling from LA," Asian American Art Center, New York, NY "Luminous," Ikon Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA "Pierogi 2000: The Flatfiles," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA Block Art Space, Kansas City Post, Los Angeles, CA 1999 "Other Paintings," Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA 1990 "Kassel Documenta Archiv," Ludwig Museum, Cologne, France "Stuttgart Staatsgalerie," Grafische Sammlung, Germany **Bibliography** 2022 Van Tran, Tam. "Abstraction," The Brooklyn Rail, July ([Link](https://brooklynrail.org/2022/07/criticspage/Abstraction)) 2020 Gillespie, Benjamin. "Oral history interview with Tam Van Tran," Archives of American Art, August 8 2017 Shang, Danielle, “Collectors of Color on the Importance of Supporting Under-Recognized Artists,” Hyperallergic (web), November 28 ([Link](https://hyperallergic.com/413758/collectors-of-color-on-the-importance-of-supporting-under-recognized-artists/)) 2016 Brown, Betty Ann, “Paperworks,” ArtScene, January Donelan, Charles, “Tam Van Tran at MCASB: ‘Aikido Dream’ Emphasizes Intuition, Process,” Santa Barbara Independent (web), January 21 2015 Pereira, Lorenzo, "Tam Van Tran at Susanne Vielmetter Gallery," Widewalls, April 14 ([Link](https://www.widewalls.ch/tam-van-tran-at-susanne-vielmetter-gallery/)) Wood, Eve, "Pick of the Week: Tam Van Tran," Artillery, April 16 ([Link](http://artillerymag.com/tam-van-tran/)) Zellen, Jody, Tam Van Tran, ArtScene, May Osborne-Bartucca, Kristen, Tam Van Tran at Susanne Vielmetter Projects, ArteFuse Magazine, May 21 McCabe Heibel, Amy, Artists Respond: Tam Van Tran on Ed Moses, UnFramed (web), July 27 ([Link](https://unframed.lacma.org/2015/07/27/artists-respond-tam-van-tran-ed-moses-4)) 2014 Baker, Kenneth, Tam Van Tran at Anthony Meier, SF Gate, November 21 ([Link](http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Tam-Van-Tran-at-Anthony-Meier-Michael-Voss-at-5909472.php)) 2013 Gass, Alison, Pattern: Follow the Rules, Eli and Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan State University, March Kee, Joan, Abstraction: Here, Now, More, Harpers Bazaar, Hong Kong Edition, May, pp. 44-45 2012 Pagel, David, Tam Van Tran at Susan Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles Times, March 15 Wood, Eve, Tam Van Tran at Susan Vielmetter, Whitehot Magazine, March Tuck, Geoff, Tam Van Tran at Susan Vielmetter, Notes On Looking, March 21 2009 Pagel, David, Glimpses of the future or past?, Los Angeles Times, January 16 San Jose Museum of Art Unveils New Works by Tam Van Tran, Artdaily.org, October 2008 Haithman, Diane, CFF art foundation announced: Fifteen LA County artists receive grants to continue pursuits in various creative fields, Los Angeles Times, May 30 2007 Holographic Ensemble, Art On Paper, Vol. 11, No. 4, March/April 2006 Sultan, Terrie, Tam Van Tran: Psychonaut, exhibition catalogue, Blaffer Gallery, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, Houston, TX Hudson, Suzanne. Tam Van Tran. Artforum, January Cotter, Holland, Ambitious Theme in New Home for Modern Art, New York Times, December 8 Ouroussoff, Nicolai, Expansive Vistas Both Inside And Out, New York Times, December 8 Shanahan, Mark, New Institute of Contemporary Art makes a `very, very cool` impression, The Boston Globe, December 3 2005 Self, Dana, "SubUrban: Tam Van Tran, exhibition essay, Knoxville Museum of Art (catalog). 2004 Whitney Biennial Catalog Essay, Pg.248 DeCarlo, Tessa, "It's a Jungle in There" - Working Habits, ARTnews, pg. 126, Martin, Philip, "Tam Van Tran - Beetle Manifesto - Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects," Ten By Ten Magazine, pg. 56, 57, Volume 2, Number 3, February issue 2003 Smith, Roberta, The New York Times, October 10 Hiro, Rika, Bijutsu Techo Magazine, pg. 164, July Martin, Philip, "international paper", Tema Celeste 97, May issue Frank, Peter, "The Paper Chase", art on paper, April issue, pg 36-39 Koppman, Debra, "International Paper", Artweek, February Helfand, Glen, "Cries and Whispers", Bay Area Reporter, February 20 Laird, Tessa, "Tam Van Tran / Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects", ART ON PAPER, March issue Worman, Alex, "L.A. Confidential", artnet, February Knight, Christopher, "Drawing, not toeing, the line", LOS ANGELES TIMES, February 7 "International Paper - Drawings by Emerging Artists", UCLA Hammer Museum, exhibition catalog, Los Angeles, CA, 2003 2002 Wood, Eve, Static Breathing, Artnet, December Knight, Christopher, "Piecing Together a Green Manifesto", LOS ANGELES TIMES, December 6 Muchnic, Suzanne, "With all its hang-ups, the L.A. gallery scene thrives, LOS ANGELES TIMES, Sunday Calendar, November 24 ArtScene, December Preview, November 25 TRACE Magazine, issue #36, page 66 Duncan, Michael, "Tam Van Tran at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects", ART IN AMERICA, January issue 2001 Williams, Alena, "Tam Van Tran - Susanne Vielmetter LA Projects", TEMA CELESTE, May-June issue, pg. 88 Hackman, Kate, KANSAS CITY STAR, February Pagel, David, LOS ANGELES TIMES, February 16 2000 Pasquini, Stefano, NYARTS, December Schoenkopf, Rebecca, OC WEEKLY, November 3 - 9 Pagel, David, LOS ANGELES TIMES, July 28, 2000 Frank, Peter, LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week, July 21 - 27 Harvey, Doug, "Tam Van Tran / Vielmetter LA Projects", ART ISSUES, summer 2000 issue Pagel, David, "Tam Van Tran / Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects", LOS ANGELES TIMES, Friday, March 10 Duncan, Michael, ARTNET, April Rosenberg, Jeremy, LA TIMES CALENDAR LIVE ARTPICK, March ARTSCENE, Vol. 19 No.8, April **Awards, Grants and Fellowships** 2008 California Community Foundation Fellowship Art Matters, Spring, Grantee 2001 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painting Pollock Krasner Fellowship 1993 Ucross Artists Residency, Ucross, WI 1991 Creative Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities **Public Collections** Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY The Broad, Los Angeles, CA California State University Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA Museum of Contempoary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY The Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY