Bu Nation — Vietnamese and American Culture Fused Through Art

Note From the Artist: Being born and raised in San jose, my experience has been a fusion of Vietnamese and American cross cultures. Recently, in my drawings and paintings, I have played around and focused on this mixing. I think of the culture I live in as a new breed of lifestyles and people. I think of the way we grew up. Eating "spaghetti" with chopsticks, which consisted of microwaved macaroni, melted Kraft singles and squirted ketchup on top. I would wear clothes my mom bought me from Espirit and flip flops from the Viet grocery store she got for $2.00. I wanted to do art about this -- what living and survival is like in the world around me. The imagery of working in hair and nail shops, collecting cans and bottles to recycle for trash. I love seeing the irony of folks sporting nice Nike kicks, flashy jumpsuits or random hats better than anyone else can. That's the experience I love to see, preserving old ways and adapting new ways of living.