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Artist of "trash" pieces
Nguyen Quoc Dan was born in 1984 and currently lives and works in Hoi An - Da Nang. He graduated from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts in 2009 and since then has quietly built a unique creative path, shaped by a spirit of rebirth - not only in material terms but also in thinking, aesthetics, and artistic philosophy.
Unlike most visual artists who pursue visual language using traditional materials, Nguyen Quoc Dan finds inspiration from discarded items: electrical wires, plastic waste, old mannequins, broken electronic components, fabric scraps from the fashion industry… Materials that have passed their life cycle and were once thought to have only value as waste now become the main materials in his artistic world.
For Nguyen Quoc Dan, scrap metal is not something to be thrown away, but rather "fertile ground" to replant emotions, imaginations, and human values in an era of material overload and depleted connections.
“These works urge us to look back, not just to recognize what has been discarded, but to see within them a life full of resistance. A heartbeat beneath the plastic,” curator Do Tuong Linh commented.
Recycled Materials Exhibition
A Fantasy World Called Materia Retana: The exhibition “Rebirth - Material Rebirth - Materia Retana” at VCCA is a major culmination of Nguyen Quoc Dan's artistic journey, bringing together more than 50 sculptures and installations made entirely from recycled materials. The exhibition space is like a fantasy world, where strange beings appear, both familiar and strange, both intimate and surreal. These are works with bizarre shapes, vibrant colors, and undefined forms – reminiscent of prehistoric creatures, mutated animals, or even extraterrestrial species.
The exhibition comprises two interwoven lines of artwork.
The first method utilizes weathered plastic – a material washed ashore from the sea or buried deep underground, bearing the marks of time and the environment. These eroded and deformed pieces of plastic are "assembled" into bizarre organisms, as if they have evolved into new life forms after humanity abandoned them.
The artworks are on display at the exhibition.
The second approach utilizes waste materials from the fashion industry, with items like fabric scraps, old mannequins, and dyeing chemicals carrying a different, topical nuance about the wastefulness of the consumer industry and its far-reaching ecological impact.
The combination of masterful technique, aesthetic emotion, and the story behind each material transforms the works into "living relics"—a part of the memory of the era, and a symbol of the ability to be reborn.
The works of Nguyen Quoc Dan
Non-Cube - A language of individual creativity
Artist Nguyen Quoc Dan calls his style Anti-Cubism – a direct critique of the geometric and logical structure traditions in modern art. Instead of using clear, balanced shapes like classical Cubism, he creates unstructured, irregular, and unnamable forms – much like the materials he uses: heterogeneous, uncontrollable, and bound by no rules except their own life cycle.
For Dân, each piece of scrap metal possesses a unique characteristic: a color, a history, a chemical and mechanical state that cannot be replicated. Combining these materials is like assembling the genetic codes of a strange organism – where humans no longer play a controlling role, but become listeners, empathizers, and co-creators.
The materials are like assembling genetic code.
This "loosening of control" opened the way for a new form of visual art, one that is not only visually stunning but also full of life, humanity, and contemplation.
Beyond just a display space, the "Materia Retana" exhibition extends the art experience to the community through art education activities, seminars, and recycling workshops for the public. This is an effort to bring art out of the gallery, to become a part of life – where viewers come not only to "look," but also to "act."
Through this exhibition, we aim to change perceptions and behaviors, not only about waste or the environment, but also about how we value things: What is old? What is new? What is worth preserving? And can "beauty" emerge from things that are ugly, dirty, and no longer useful?
Nguyen Quoc Dan doesn't directly answer those questions. Instead, he presents a series of images, shapes, colors, and visual experiences for viewers to interpret for themselves. He doesn't condemn anyone, criticize the system, or call for grand actions; he simply gently shows that even from trash, something can sprout.
In an age where the Earth is becoming increasingly overloaded with consumption and production, recycled art is not just a genre, but a silent yet powerful statement. It doesn't require people to do anything grand, but reminds us not to underestimate the small things. An old piece of electrical wire, a discarded piece of broken plastic can also become art if viewed with empathy and the hands of the creator.
"Nothing is truly thrown away, it's just that we haven't yet seen its new value," perhaps that's the message Nguyen Quoc Dan wants to convey. And in today's multifaceted art world, he has chosen his own path: quiet, persistent, yet full of vitality. The path of rebirth.
The exhibition “Rebirth - Regenerating Matter - Materia Retana” is open daily from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM, from July 5th, 2025 to September 7th, 2025 at the Vincom Contemporary Art Center (VCCA), B1-R3 Vincom Mega Mall Royal City, 72A Nguyen Trai Street, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi.
