Mission Phoenix
Nguyen Xuan Huy

We cordially invite you and your friends to join us at our gallery in Erfurt for the opening with the artist on Saturday, August 22, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.

Nguyen Xuan Huy’s works build bridges from the 21st century to the treasures of our art history. They respond to contemporary visual patterns, address current issues, and at the same time possess the mastery and thematic depth of classical European painting.
 
The body is always present in Nguyen’s paintings. His depiction of the body draws on the traditions of European art from antiquity to the present. The omission of clothing signifies a renunciation of fashion and temporal classification, thereby facilitating access to the depiction of eternally recurring themes and patterns of behavior. At the same time, nudity holds erotic potential—an energy that confers power. Its use (as well as its abuse) is part of our culture.
 
Narrative has traditionally held great significance in European art. The avant-garde left a narrative drought lasting 120 years in the history of painting. Nguyen’s art picks up the lost thread and formulates powerful parables of extraordinary depth and complexity.

The centerpiece of our current exhibition is the painting “Mission Phoenix,” completed in 2025. In ancient Greece and Egypt, the phoenix was a mythical eagle-like bird that, at the end of its long life, went up in flames and left behind an egg in the ashes, from which it hatched anew. The peacock-like mythical creature Fenghuang was known as the “Chinese phoenix” and was also associated with fire.
 
Nguyen Xuan Huy weaves together these aspects of the phoenix concept into a monumental painting that alludes to the fire at Notre Dame, the fragility of culture in general, and European civilization in particular.