Dante’s famous 14th century epic poem ‘The Divine Comedy’ led him from the inferno to purgatory to the heavens on a spiritual journey that inspired Tammy Nguyen’s trio of exhibitions at Lehman Maupin’s Seoul, London and now New York galleries. Taking Dante’s pathway as a loose framework for her own consideration of the forces that shape our world, she combines abundant and diverse imagery to suggest the complexity of history. Recurring images of Frankenstein recall the global impact of Indonesian volcano Mount Tambora’s massive volcanic eruption in 1815, which created stormy weather patterns that kept Mary Shelly indoors inventing her famous character. Images of President Eisenhower’s head and segments of his 1961 farewell address warning of the rising military industrial complex appear alongside eagles that symbolize soaring American political ambitions while also recalling Dante’s encounter with an eagle who snatches him up to fly onward. Competing notions of progress appear in the show’s densely layered, imagery-rich paintings, their own complexity suggesting an unstoppable progression of myriad events that impacts both present and future. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 15th).
