Sunday, June 06, 2010

Underdog Suite. Photographs and Collages 1998-2009.




Underdog Suite. Photographs and Collages 1998-2009. Photographs by Cat Tuong Nguyen. With Essays by Burkhard Meltzer und Nadine Olonetzky. Scheidegger & Spiess, 2009. 312 pp., 545 colour and 10 halftone illustrations, 8x10½".

Vietnam-born Swiss photographer Cat Tuong Nguyen is known for his "highly individual, intelligent, and poetic work" where he challenges photography’s "time-honored status as a documentary medium, [and] photographs his subjects through a variety of filters, calling attention to vision’s mediating processes and unmasking 'transparency' as an illusion".

He's exhibited his work frequently and has gained recognition internationally.

"Nguyen’s photos confront viewers with strange, humorous, and mysterious images, challenging them to investigate their everyday reality.

The first book to collect Nguyen’s art, 'Underdog Suite' brings together in one volume his photographs, collages, and unique painted-over magazine pictures.



Arranged in an unconventional and highly original manner that mirrors Nguyen’s own unusual approach to art, 'Underdog Suite' presents nearly the complete oeuvre of this extraordinary young artist.

Far from a mere monographic overview, it is, rather, a book-shaped self-portrait of an artist who reacts with great intelligence and lyrical sensitivity to his everyday world - and reflects this sensibility and curiosity in his stunning images.

A beautiful and unusual book, 'Underdog Suite' introduces the work of this rapidly emerging artist to a larger audience."


First quote: source; second quote: source ; third quote: source.

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