Hoa Dung Clerget
Born in France, lives and works in London
Education
2019-2021 Royal College of Art - MA Painting
2016-2019 Central Saint Martins School, London - BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree
Personal project
2019 [la galerie libre] Creation of an agent with multiple identities: artist or collective of artists, curator and physical gallery in movement.
Solo
2023 Durian Revolution, Studio Chapple, Deptford
2022 Flowers from Nowhere, 1B Window Gallery, Walthamstow
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Duo presentation at Artorama with Studio Chapple and Xxijrahii in Marseille (August)
2024 A landscape of chance, group show at SLQS gallery (Mayfair, London) curated by Sarah Le Quang Sang.
2023 No Place Like Home (part II), Museum of the Home (April)
2022 The Expanse in-between, group exhibition at Grove Collective (July)
2022 Group exhibition at Christie’s (July)
2022 A Paradise for the Smiling Alligators, curated by Marta Orsola Sironi in collaboration with Harlesden High Street
2022 Mothering at Kupfer Project (June)
2022 Memories of a Social Club that doesn’t exist, curated by J. Guo, ZÉRUÌ
2022 No Place Like Home (A Vietnamese exhibition), curated by KV Duong and myself, Canning Gallery (May)
2022 Fertile Ground, SZN Gallery, London (April-June)
2022 Die Kunst des Vergessens, die Kunst des Erinnerns, curated by P. Hostalery, Gallery Brockstedt, Berlin (April-June)
2022 Flowers from Nowhere, solo at Window B1 Gallery, Walthamstow
2022 Interface, Lille Grand Palais, curated by Annuschka Leung
2021 Love Strata, Lychee One (December 2021), curated by myself
2021 Touch: the Politics of Physicality, Hackney Downs Studio, curated by Louis Chapple (November 2021)
2021 London Grads Now, Saatchi Gallery (November 2021)
2021 Yield, No20 Arts London (November 2021)
2021 Grown Up, Holland Park church, curated by Sabrina Shah
2021 Deep Cut, Asylum Chapel, curated by Yi Toh, London
2019 Commonmaking in the framework of Salon of Conviviality, Lacuna Gallery, 2019 Salon of conviviality, White Room foundation, Moscow, Russia
2019 Window project, Gazelli Art House, London
2018 Surge, East Wing Biennale at Courtauld Institute of Art
2017 Expanded City curated by The Curations Society, London
2017 Blue at Josephine Clavel Gallery, London
Award/Grant
2022 Jerwood Art New Work Fund
2021 Finalist of Circa x Dazed Class of 2021
2021 Jerwood grant 1:1 Fund
Residency
2022 Palazzo Monti - Brescia (July)
Press
2021 12 Future stars of the art world (…) 12th December, The Times
Born in France, lives and works in London
Education
2019-2021 Royal College of Art - MA Painting
2016-2019 Central Saint Martins School, London - BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree
Personal project
2019 [la galerie libre] Creation of an agent with multiple identities: artist or collective of artists, curator and physical gallery in movement.
Solo
2023 Durian Revolution, Studio Chapple, Deptford
2022 Flowers from Nowhere, 1B Window Gallery, Walthamstow
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Duo presentation at Artorama with Studio Chapple and Xxijrahii in Marseille (August)
2024 A landscape of chance, group show at SLQS gallery (Mayfair, London) curated by Sarah Le Quang Sang.
2023 No Place Like Home (part II), Museum of the Home (April)
2022 The Expanse in-between, group exhibition at Grove Collective (July)
2022 Group exhibition at Christie’s (July)
2022 A Paradise for the Smiling Alligators, curated by Marta Orsola Sironi in collaboration with Harlesden High Street
2022 Mothering at Kupfer Project (June)
2022 Memories of a Social Club that doesn’t exist, curated by J. Guo, ZÉRUÌ
2022 No Place Like Home (A Vietnamese exhibition), curated by KV Duong and myself, Canning Gallery (May)
2022 Fertile Ground, SZN Gallery, London (April-June)
2022 Die Kunst des Vergessens, die Kunst des Erinnerns, curated by P. Hostalery, Gallery Brockstedt, Berlin (April-June)
2022 Flowers from Nowhere, solo at Window B1 Gallery, Walthamstow
2022 Interface, Lille Grand Palais, curated by Annuschka Leung
2021 Love Strata, Lychee One (December 2021), curated by myself
2021 Touch: the Politics of Physicality, Hackney Downs Studio, curated by Louis Chapple (November 2021)
2021 London Grads Now, Saatchi Gallery (November 2021)
2021 Yield, No20 Arts London (November 2021)
2021 Grown Up, Holland Park church, curated by Sabrina Shah
2021 Deep Cut, Asylum Chapel, curated by Yi Toh, London
2019 Commonmaking in the framework of Salon of Conviviality, Lacuna Gallery, 2019 Salon of conviviality, White Room foundation, Moscow, Russia
2019 Window project, Gazelli Art House, London
2018 Surge, East Wing Biennale at Courtauld Institute of Art
2017 Expanded City curated by The Curations Society, London
2017 Blue at Josephine Clavel Gallery, London
Award/Grant
2022 Jerwood Art New Work Fund
2021 Finalist of Circa x Dazed Class of 2021
2021 Jerwood grant 1:1 Fund
Residency
2022 Palazzo Monti - Brescia (July)
Press
2021 12 Future stars of the art world (…) 12th December, The Times
Statement
Hoa Dung Clerget creates installations and objects that delve into the labor of immigrant women, the Nail Art subculture, and the micro-societies found in nail salons. As a member of the Vietnamese diaspora, Clerget's works reflect a close relationship with the nail salon ecosystem, seeking to give tangible form to the labor of women from the community. The goal is to shift public perception of the beauty business and the popular art anchored in everyday life.
Hoa Dung Clerget uses nail gel polish as the main medium. Exploring innovative Nail Art techniques, she leverages the unique properties of these chemical materials to craft multi-layered works. These layers of varnish metaphorically represent the multiple stories of Vietnamese immigrants, forming a living narrative web. By considering gel polish as a painting medium, Clerget questions the current status of this art form. The qualities of gel polish play a central role in her use of this material: like oil painting, it offers the possibility of reworking over time, while, like acrylic, it dries almost instantly by polymerisation.
At the heart of Hoa Dung Clerget's practice are experiences of displacement, against a backdrop of tension between beauty and toxicity, safe place and precarious situation, interior and exterior. Her work explores the popular and kitschy aesthetic of Nail Art and oriental objects, revealing all the ambiguity present in the gaze, taste, and notion of exoticisation.
Hoa Dung Clerget creates installations and objects that delve into the labor of immigrant women, the Nail Art subculture, and the micro-societies found in nail salons. As a member of the Vietnamese diaspora, Clerget's works reflect a close relationship with the nail salon ecosystem, seeking to give tangible form to the labor of women from the community. The goal is to shift public perception of the beauty business and the popular art anchored in everyday life.
Hoa Dung Clerget uses nail gel polish as the main medium. Exploring innovative Nail Art techniques, she leverages the unique properties of these chemical materials to craft multi-layered works. These layers of varnish metaphorically represent the multiple stories of Vietnamese immigrants, forming a living narrative web. By considering gel polish as a painting medium, Clerget questions the current status of this art form. The qualities of gel polish play a central role in her use of this material: like oil painting, it offers the possibility of reworking over time, while, like acrylic, it dries almost instantly by polymerisation.
At the heart of Hoa Dung Clerget's practice are experiences of displacement, against a backdrop of tension between beauty and toxicity, safe place and precarious situation, interior and exterior. Her work explores the popular and kitschy aesthetic of Nail Art and oriental objects, revealing all the ambiguity present in the gaze, taste, and notion of exoticisation.