TRAN VAN AN

Lives and works in Hanoi, Vietnam

Artist statement

In my sculptural practice, I develop InnerField as an approach to form arising from invisible forces moving within matter and human beings. InnerField enters into dialogue with Eastern concepts of Qi and Dao, with the idea of fields of force, while continuing the spirit of abstract sculpture and material practice, where form emerges through process rather than by imitating the external world. I see sculpture as the materialization of an inner field of force. I work with various materials such as stainless steel, bronze, aluminum, stone, and ceramics, with stainless steel as my primary material. An industrial material that is hard, heavy, load-bearing, and stable is cut into small pieces, deformed, arranged, and welded into lattice-like structures. Through this process, steel is transformed into a body that is light, hollow, organic, and suggestive of movement. Each individual fragment does not carry the final form; it is the relationship between them that creates a new structure. This structure makes me think of contemporary human beings, as connections become increasingly dense without making individuals necessarily more free. The spaces between the fragments become spaces of freedom, distance, and the possibility of becoming. Fragmentation, reconfiguration, tension, void, and emergence become the principles that constitute the method of thinking and practice within the philosophy of InnerField that I develop. For me, form is the condensation of InnerField, where...

Artwork