The Propeller Group—an artist team established in Vietnam in 2006—blurs the boundaries between fine art and media production. The three members share an interest in globalized street culture and a background in filmmaking, operating as both an artist collective and a production company called TPG. Their ambitious projects are frequently anchored in Vietnam’s history or its current dynamics as a growing capitalist market, but they extend to address global phenomena, from street culture to international commerce and to traditions shared across cultures.  In multifaceted projects, The Propeller Group traverses modes of cultural production and embraces the formats of branding campaigns, television commercials, Hollywood movies, and music videos to explore the complex ideologies that drive global commerce, war, cultural ritual, and historical memory.

 

The artists—Matt Lucero (b. 1976, Upland, California), Tuan Andrew Nguyen (b. 1976, Saigon), and Phunam (b. 1974, Saigon)—developed their social consciousness as art students during the 1990s in the United States and Europe. Their visions were informed not only by academic theory, but also by the films and cultural controversies that defined the decade. Consistent with this background, the collective proposes new mythologies that combat dominant narratives, challenging perceptions of Vietnam popularly held in the American imagination, and exploring the relationships between memory, history, and the present.

 

This is the first survey of The Propeller Group presented in the United States.  In conjunction with the exhibition, the collective collaborated with Los Angeles muralist El Mac to create a new permanent public mural on West San Carlos Street in downtown San José. This exhibition has been organized by Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Phoenix Art Museum.  SJMA’s presentation is organized by Lauren Schell Dickens, curator.

 

The Propeller Group is made possible in part with a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to advance international understanding through cultural exchange in the arts, and by generous support from the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, Tad and Jackson Freese, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Thang Do and Grace Liu, and Dr. Jerrold Hiura and Lucia Cha.