CREDITS:
Illustration of Phi Phi Oanh by Maria Chen.
ALL WORKS: ©Phi Phi Oanh
CNTRFLD.ART is pleased to present an in-depth conversation with Vietnamese-American artist Phi Phi Oanh, whose pioneering work explores the intersections of tradition, materiality, and contemporary thought. Best known for her innovative approach to sơn ta (Vietnamese lacquer painting), Oanh’s practice investigates how this ancient medium can be expanded beyond its historical and cultural confines, engaging with themes of memory, identity, and perception.
Spanning the United States and Vietnam, Oanh’s upbringing and artistic journey have been shaped by a transcultural perspective, allowing her to challenge and rethink conventional narratives around art and craft. Her work delves into the ecological, political, and philosophical dimensions of lacquer, questioning its colonial legacies while embracing its possibilities as a dynamic and evolving medium. From intricate pictorial surfaces to immersive installations like Palimpsest and Specula, Oanh’s work fosters a deep engagement with time, material, and space.
In this conversation, she reflects on her artistic roots, her evolving relationship with lacquer, and the ways in which craft and innovation intersect in her practice. She also shares insights into her latest explorations, from naturalistic paintings on glass to low-tech mechanical experiments, all while staying true to lacquer’s alchemic qualities.
Join us as we delve into the philosophical and material depth of Phi Phi Oanh’s work, uncovering how lacquer painting continues to transform, adapt, and resist categorisation in contemporary art.
CNTRFLD. Personal Heritage and Artistic Roots.
Your upbringing spans both the United States and Vietnam, and your work often reflects a transcultural experience. How has growing up in these two cultures shaped your artistic identity and practice?
PO. I think seeing things from different cultural perspectives can help one think outside of certain boxes. Living and working in Vietnam with lacquer painting really puts into focus time, geography, traditions that made me question many widely accepted assumptions. Sơn ta (Vietnamese lacquer) especially resonated with me when I came to Vietnam because of its relationship with place and climate. It is a geographically specific practice. I do think I carry into my work a little of the pioneering American spirit and punk rock DIY.
CNTRFLD. Discovering the Medium of Lacquer.
Vietnamese lacquer painting became central to your work after your Fulbright research in Hanoi. Can you share what drew you to this ancient craft and how it resonated with your vision as an artist?
PO. Vietnamese lacquer painting is endlessly fascinating from all perspectives. As a painting medium it is both ancient and new. It was reinvented as a Beaux-arts medium only a hundred years ago. From an anthropological perspective, examples of lacquer artifacts from the past embodied the confluence of different cultures and dialectics that have passed through this region and continues to do so today in the form of Art. From a political perspective its colonial roots, history of otherness and national identity brings into focus questions of ownership and inclusivity. From an ecological perspective, as a plant species, its relationship to its geopolitical environment is a reminder about the diversity of species and agricultural cooperation. Personally, lacquer painting as a practice has actively fostered for me a deep relationship between place and time. In this, there is a philosophical subtext to be explored, but what that is I am still not sure.
From an art historical perspective, well there is a lot to unpack yet the terms are still very vague. But they are all these open assemblages of meaning that, as a contemporary artist, make intervention possible. Moreover, the cherry on top, the studio work process to create a lacquer painting is like alchemy, and there is pure joy in that! There is both pleasure and meaning participating in developing a different genre of painting.
CNTRFLD. Reinventing Tradition.
You’ve described Vietnamese lacquer as having an "entire history of painting 'becoming lacquer.'" How do you balance preserving its traditional essence with your innovative approaches that incorporate new materials and formats?
PO. That statement just tries to address the fact that acculturation works both ways. We always talk about how lacquer was re-invented as a painting medium during the French colonial era as though colonialism only worked one way, but I prefer to think of it as this entire history of painting becoming lacquer as well. Maybe this is a gesture to decoloniality, but through this relationship as an art medium, son ta lacquer acquires agency and symbolic relationships. To me this is very important because it speaks of potential and possibility.
I try not to focus on “traditional essences” because to me its history as painting, only 100 years old, is one of constant modernist re-invention on each artists’ terms following their world view. Perhaps its only traditional essence is the violent redefinition by every lacquer artist since on their given terms.
For me, I try to return to the basic qualities of the lacquer and work from there. For example, Palimpsest is a work that finds lacquer painting laminated between glass and then projected with light. This may seem like a conceptual exercise in dematerialization, but in fact it is still very specific to the medium of Vietnamese lacquer. Sơn ta is a natural polymer heat resistant to over 150C which allows for both the glass lamination and withstanding the emitted heat from the projector lamp. This resistance to deterioration under high heat is unique to natural lacquer. Also, the translucent qualities of the resin have been underexplored.
CNTRFLD. On Memory and Reflection.
Your work explores themes like collective memory and reflection. How does the materiality of lacquer, with its deep colours and light-reflective qualities, help you convey these themes?
PO. I think we’ve always looked for material metaphors to help us understand the nature of our subjective and conscious experience. To me the enigmatic process of lacquer painting is rich in metaphors. I have always likened the process of lacquer painting—the building up of layers embedded with silver, aluminium, and gold leaf and sanding away—to the natural geological processes of the earth.
The viewer, upon seeing the polished surface might not understand the process but there is something about the flat yet richly textured surface that intimates the collapsing in of time, earth, geology, depth—as though it were a fossil containing the material traces of a conscious existence… which it does, if created in earnest. The final result isn't an art object per se nor entirely experiential but something else in between.
CNTRFLD. Experiential Spaces.
Many of your installations, such as *Specula* and *Palimpsest*, create meditative environments. How do you approach designing spaces that immerse viewers and evoke contemplation?
PO. Like I mentioned earlier, the unique material quality of lacquer painting is that it is both flat but looks impossibly deep. Because of this strange almost holographic effect it seems to resist reproducibility by photographic or digital means. Somehow this resistance to reproduction heightens the experience of being there and lends great feeling to the moment. The embedded gold and silverleaf reflects changes in light as you move around the works, and to me it is this dynamic luminescence in lacquer painting that most succinctly captures the slippery nature of perception and lends itself to the experience of perception as something slow and pieced together (as opposed to be read for content in one glance. Sometimes a work might be quite literal but still escape categorical meaning. This quality to me is lacquer painting’s great contribution to seeing and perception and especially if the painting is grounded in naturalism.
CNTRFLD. Current and Future Projects.
Can you share insights into any current or upcoming projects? Are you exploring new techniques or themes in your work?
PO. This year, I would like to focus more on a series of naturalistic paintings based on observation of nature trapped in glass terrariums. I will continue working on painting with lacquer paintings on glass, a translucent surface. Also, I am tinkering with mechanical parts, very low tech of course! We will see what comes of all of it by next winter.
CNTRFLD. Being a Woman in the Arts.
As a woman in the contemporary arts space, how do you navigate challenges in a field that can still feel dominated by certain narratives or perspectives? Do these experiences influence your work?
PO. I think so, but I try not to focus on the strictures rather just strive to bring to life work I would like to see exist in the world.
CNTRFLD. Craft and Innovation.
You’re interested in rethinking craft and exploring its potential in broader art discourse. How do you see traditional craft mediums like lacquer evolving in contemporary art?
PO. Although the dichotomy between art and craft is deeply embedded in our worldview on art, it now seems outdated—especially considering shifts in production methods, artificial intelligence, and identity. In fact, I see contemporary art evolving more toward craft thinking, and specifically lacquer painting, within the frameworks of ecology and post-humanism.
More importantly, crafts that were once created on a human scale may take on new significance in the future. Rather than representing exclusion, locally based crafts—especially those that allow for individual creativity and original thought—might instead signify inclusion. The willingness to learn them could become an important signpost or a “rite of passage,” a way of belonging to a place and time, and of participating in its culture regardless of one’s origin. Perhaps craft practices that heighten the physical experience of being in the world will become a relevant criterion for future art. My own relationship with sơn ta lacquer serves as a case study of how this may be true.
CNTRFLD. Advice to Emerging Artists.
What advice would you give to young artists, particularly those from diasporic or transcultural backgrounds, who are looking to carve their own path in the arts?
PO. Keep your tools sharp.
About the artist.
Phi Phi Oanh (b. 1979, USA) is a Vietnamese-American artist known for her innovative explorations of Vietnamese lacquer painting (sơn mài). Her practice investigates the medium’s potential to convey memory, cultural hybridity, and the transformation of traditional craft in contemporary art. Through pictorial installations and immersive spaces, she reconfigures culturally specific symbols to create meditative and experiential environments.
She received her BFA from Parsons School of Design (2002) and an MA in Art and Research from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2012). A Fulbright Grant in 2004 led her to Hanoi, where she studied lacquer painting—a medium that remains central to her work. Oanh has exhibited widely, including at the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial (2021-2022), National Gallery Singapore (2017), and the Singapore Biennale (2013). She currently lives and works in Da Nang, Vietnam.
