Insight into Christine Nguyen’s work and process

Christine’s works in Cosmic Gardens are created by drawing and painting on layered mylar to produce a composite image that functions as a photographic negative. This process requires Christine to paint, draw and choose color in reverse. Once printed, the effect makes the work feel as if they were painted with streaks of light or drawn with electricity. 

Once printed, her pieces are then submerged in a saline solution and salt crystals become embedded in the print, adding a crystalline, otherworldly quality.

Here is a lovely January 2021 interview with Christine in partnership with Art in Embassies for her U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Hanoi, Vietnam (featuring her cyanotype work). She speaks about her fascination with the micro and macro universes, reverence for the natural world, and the use of salt crystals in her work. These elements are a though line in all of her art, and her pieces in Cosmic Gardens have been submerged in a saline bath to form the delicate salt crystals on the surfaces of the work.