KV Duong examines Vietnamese queer identity, migration, and cultural assimilation through personal and family histories. His early work with latex highlights the material’s link to French colonial rubber plantations in Vietnam, while also embracing its sensual and symbolic associations with queer experience. Doors and portals frequently appear as motifs, representing both opportunity and the constraints imposed by societal and colonial norms, particularly in relation to LGBTQ+ histories. Duong’s practice is marked by a commitment to continually push technical and conceptual boundaries. As his experience deepens, his choices of materials and methods grow more intricate, requiring extensive research, planning, and collaboration with peers and technicians. Although his work remains centered on Vietnamese queer identity, collaborations have broadened its focus, making his artistic voice more universal. His influences shift depending on the project. Currently working with latex, Duong looks to pioneers like Eva Hesse and Heidi Bucher. He admires Anselm Kiefer for his monumental scale and reflective approach. Movements like Fluxus, Gutai, and Viennese Action inspire him for their use of the body as a creative tool and metaphor, with Tibor Hajas particularly influencing his first live body painting. Abstract expressionists Pollock and De Kooning shape his aesthetic sense, while postcolonial and poststructuralist thinkers—such as Homi Bhabha, Salman Rushdie, Michel Foucault, and Ocean Vuong—inform his intellectual framework. ...
