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Thai Bui received an MFA from Stanford University. He has taught sculpture at UCSC and Stanford University. He has received numerous awards including the Harold E. Weiner Memorial Prize at San Francisco Art Institute. His work experience includes working for San Francisco Airport Museum, Euphrat Gallery at De Anza College and San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco. Currently, he is commissioned to erect two large sculptures for the city of Palo Alto called "The Adobe Project". His arts are widely collected by many well known individuals and institutions such as Dustin Hoffman and the San Jose Museum of Arts, respectively. Bui has participated in numerous group exhibitions from 1987 to the present including the following:
1999 "Made in U.S.A." Pacific Bridge Gallery in Oakland , CA
1997 Drawings: Realism to Abstraction; A Contemporary Survey of the Bay Area, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
1996 "An Ocean Apart: Contemporary Vietnamese Art from the United States and Vietnam". San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
"Double Portrait: Vision of Vietnam". San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 "Radius 1995", Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA
1994 "Sculpture, d.p." Fong Galleries, San Jose, CA
1993 "Nuoc Mam", San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
"New Territory" Grove Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA |
 | The Needed: The artist is inspired by materials he finds in nature, as the final artwork can show the transformation of his creative process from the subconscious level to a fully controlled end result. Here, the two blocks of granite smoothly complement one another. This placement completes the existence of all things in nature. The reference to the male and the female, one merging into the other, also reflects the ancient principle of the yin and the yang. Harmony is achieved through the combination of the two elements, and such harmony is needed to bring forth life. This sculpture echoes the lyrics in a Trinh Cong Son's song: "In the future, even pebbles and rocks will need each other."
This work is the model for a sculpture belonging to the "Adobe Project" that will be erected in the city of Palo Alto, on El Camino Real near San Antonio Road. |
| Twins: Two distinct panels-one world. The title of the work suggests similarity between the panels. However, a careful observation of the artwork will reveal that they are actually opposite to one another. Each panel is a combination of wood, a natural element, and concrete, an artificial substance. Where the wood is on one panel is where concrete is found on the other. This arrangement suggests a harmony born out of opposite elements, similar to the harmony found in the combination of the yin and the yang. The two opposites will become the same if they are harmoniously positioned. |  |
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