Phung Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator whose practice is in drawing, painting, public art, and community engagement. Her work investigates notions of cultural identity from a kaleidoscopic perspective, a continual shift of idiosyncratic translations. The contemporary American landscape is where she explores how cultural ideas are imported, disassembled, and then reconstructed. Her reflections and research have guided Huynh to re-stitch traditional Asian iconography within the loosely woven fabric of American popular culture to call attention to (mis)interpretations and (re)appropriations. Huynh considers how cultural authenticity disintegrates within a capitalist framework to challenge the viewer with a western-leaning perspective.
With a strong commitment to community engagement and social practice, Huynh has completed significant public art projects throughout Los Angeles County. Her most important public art project to date is Sobrevivir, which was unveiled and dedicated on July 11, 2022 at the Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. A large-scale Corten steel floor sculpture, Sobrevivir (Spanish to "survive" and to “exist") recognizes the women and events surrounding the practice of coerced sterilization at the LAC + USC Medical Center in the 1960s and 70s. Over 200 women who delivered babies at the hospital, the majority of them immigrants born in Mexico with little income or knowledge of the English language, underwent sterilization procedures without their knowledge or consent. Situated within a circular area in the plaza between the historic and new Medical Center buildings, Huynh's memorial conveys LA County's acknowledgment of the irreparable harm inflicted upon the women who were subjected to these coerced sterilizations, and their families. In her dedication, she offered her artwork as a site of contemplation, healing, and renewal.
Phung Huynh (b. Vietnam, 1977) completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Southern California, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with distinction from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and her Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University. With a strong commitment to community engagement and social practice, Huynh has completed significant public art projects throughout Los Angeles County, including most recently Sobrevivir, a large-scale Corten steel floor sculpture that recognizes the women and events surrounding the practice of coerced sterilization at the LAC + USC Medical Center in the 1960s and 1970s. Additional public art commissions include the Metro Orange Line; Metro Silver Line; and the Los Angeles Zoo.
She was the subject of a recent solo exhibition at the Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA; and her work has been exhibited at the USC Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; and Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, among others. Her work in included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA; Dallas Art Museum, Dallas, TX; University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ; Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, CA; USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA; Escalette Permanent Collection of Art at Chapman University, Orange, CA; and the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine Art Collection, Pasadena, CA. She was a 2022 recipient of the California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists and the 2021 COLA Individual Artist Fellowship. Huynh is an Assistant Professor of Art at California State University Los Angeles where her focus is on serving disproportionately impacted students. She has served as Chair of the Public Art Commission for the city of South Pasadena and Chair of the Prison Arts Collective Advisory Council. She is currently on the Board of Directors for LA Más, a non-profit organization that serves BIPOC working class immigrant communities in Northeast Los Angeles.
Phung Huynh
Tea Party, 2017
Oil and enamel on canvas
60 x 60 in.
Phung Huynh
Beyond the Garden, 2017
Oil and enamel on canvas
50 x 50 in.
Phung Huynh
Nose Sharpener, 2017
Oil on canvas
20 x 20 in.
Phung Huynh
Blue, 2017
Oil and collage on canvas
20 x 20 in.
Phung Huynh
Bleaching, 2016
Oil on canvas
36 x 36 in.
Phung Huynh
Smokers, 2016
Oil on canvas
48 x 36 in.
Phung Huynh
Beauty Queen, 2016
Oil on canvas
48 x 36 in.
Phung Huynh
Three Graces, 2016
Oil on canvas
36 x 36 in.
In a series of oil paintings titled Pretty Hurts (2015-2017) Huynh probes questions of cultural perception and cultural authenticity through images of the Asian female body vis-à-vis plastic surgery. She references Chinese feet-binding as one of the earliest forms of cosmetic surgery to contrast the antiquated canon of Asian feminine beauty (small feet, small eyes, a broad forehead, and small breasts) with the current trends of body image influenced by western canons that call for larger eyes, a delicate forehead, a taller nose, and larger breasts. Huynh is interested in how contemporary plastic surgery on Asian women have obscured ethnic and racial identity, and has also amplified the exoticism and Orientalist eroticism of Asian women.
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is thrilled to announce Phung Huynh as a recipient of the 2024 Los Angeles Artadia Awards. Since its inception in 1999, Artadia has steadfastly championed emerging talents, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. Over the past 25 years, Artadia has been a catalyst for artistic innovation, providing crucial financial support, mentorship, and recognition to countless artists who have gone on to shape the culture of contemporary art. In its 25th year, Artadia is thrilled to continue doing what it does best – providing impact that not only includes financial assistance, while also cultivating a community that values artistic expression and champions the next generation of visionaries.
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is pleased to announce Phung Huynh as a 2023 Montavlo Arts Center artist fellow. Of 370 applicants, 65 artists—spanning careers from emerging to established—were awarded Lucas Artists Fellowships: 30 in the field of visual arts, 19 in literary arts, and 16 in music/composition and performing arts.
Luis De Jesus is proud to announce the Museum of Modern Art's accession of Arn Chorn-Pond, 2023, by Phung Huynh, into the permanent collection. This graphite drawing on a pink donut box depicts Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian musician, human rights activist, and a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime. He is an advocate for the healing and transformative power of the arts, especially music. Arn Chorn-Pond is one of nine works in Huynh's sold out series, From the Donut Box, informed by her experience as a refugee of Cambodian and Chinese descent from vietnam.
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is pleased to announce that Phung Huyn has been named the 2023 honoree in art for the Women of Impact Awards.
The Women of Impact Awards was created in honor of Women’s History Month to spotlight the efforts of our extraordinary women in the 77th Assembly District.
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is proud to announce that Phung Huynh has been awarded a 2022 California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artist Fellows. The CCF fellowships are one of the most "prestigious arts fellowships in the region, which helps artists build successful, sustainable careers that support the thriving Los Angeles arts scene."
