On view through: Thursday, March 30th, 2017
We are closed for the installation of “Current Locations” opening Saturday, April 8th.

Curated by Dexter Wimberly, Executive Director of Aljira
A Center for Contemporary Art
Artist Reception: Thursday, March 9, 2017 6pm – 8pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, March 25, 2017 3pm 
On View: March 3 – 30, 2017 (By appointment after March 26th: info@groundfloorbk.com)
Ground Floor Gallery announces the opening of PRIMATE CITY, a solo exhibition of recent work by artist, Tammy Nguyen. Organized by Dexter Wimberly, the exhibition includes prints, artist books, and paintings created by Nguyen between 2015-2017.
PRIMATE CITY reflects Nguyen’s keen interest in geopolitics, the uncovering of little-known histories, and meaningful storytelling. Her research-intensive process involves extensive travel, photography and first-person information gathering. Central to Nguyen’s practice is a concern with the human condition, as well as her desire to preserve that which is precious.
“My work aims for nuance, particularly in geopolitics because the narratives of cultures, politics, and histories are too often reduced and broadcasted as separate entities, creating incomplete and sometimes haphazard understandings between peoples. I try to confuse such boundaries by creating images and writing fiction that relies heavily on research of disparate subjects and is explored through a variety of mediums,” states Nguyen. This show presents a body of work which stems from a 1969 US intelligence document that proposed to modernize Danang City in Vietnam. Nguyen invents a fact-based fantasy utilizing langurs, Vietnamese myths, and geography to point at the political implications of this document.
Tammy Nguyen (b. 1984, San Francisco, CA) received a BFA from the Cooper Union in 2007 and an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2013. From 2007-08, Nguyen was a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam where she studied traditional lacquer painting. She has exhibited at the San-Art, The Fine Arts Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, the Bronx Museum, Wave Hill, Carriage Barns Art Center, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, and the Inside-Out Museum. In 2014, Nguyen was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship at Wave Hill as well as inclusion in the Bronx AIM program. In 2015, she was selected for the Scholarship for Advanced Studies by The Center for Book Arts in New York City. Her work has been collected by Yale University and the Museum of Modern Art.  In Fall 2016, Nguyen founded Passenger Pigeon Press, an independent press that aims to address geopolitics, science, and identity through art. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Process Space program.

Curator Dexter Wimberly organizes exhibitions that explore contemporary culture, American history, economics, and power dynamics. In 2016 he was appointed Executive Director of Aljira – a Center for Contemporary Art, located in Newark, New Jersey. A passionate supporter of the arts, Wimberly has exhibited the work of hundreds of artists internationally. During his decade-long career, he has organized exhibitions and programs at dozens of museums and galleries including the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) Raleigh, The California African American Museum, The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), 101/EXHIBIT gallery, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, bitforms gallery, Koki Arts gallery (Tokyo), and The Third Line Gallery (Dubai).