Troy Gua's photostream  

I am a child of 1970's and 1980's America. I did Elvis impersonations for my parents' friends on the hearth. I dressed as Elton John for Halloween, complete with a custom-made satin jumpsuit. I saw every Star Wars movie on opening day. I discovered why girls were different than boys when I saw Olivia Newton John on the big screen in Grease. I never missed an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. I cried with my big sister the day John Lennon died.

I grew up with Ronald McDonald and Ronald Reagan, King Tut and the King of Pop; images and icons that have been burned into my subconscious. Rock stars, advertising, packaging, Hollywood, science fiction, fast food, the sit-com, and now, the internet, Photoshop, Facebook, iPods, reality tv and the instant plastic hereafter. Popular American culture is shaping my life, and is a vital component of my creative process.

My work's scope is expanding as I embrace the use of new materials and technologies to produce an aesthetic inspired by, and aspiring to, a marriage of human ability and digital perfection.

Often resin-coated and highly lustrous, my work is reflective, both literally and metaphorically. It implies the reflection of popular culture, my fascination with it and my desire to become part of it. It suggests the slickly wrapped bits and bytes of information our modern world is continuously fed through our growing assemblage of media. It refers to what we choose to see and what we choose to show.

Fashioned with levity and wrapped in a tight, glossy package, my work is premeditated and meticulously designed. It encourages closer investigation. It asks you to think and it asks you to laugh…or at least crack a smile.


SELECTED 2010 EVENTS
Fulcrum Gallery, Solo Exhibition - 'Monument', January - March 2010, Tacoma, WA
Twilight Artist Collective, Group Exhibition - 'Bad Words' curated by Chris Crites, February 2010, Seattle, WA
Artist Trust 2010 Auction, February 2010, Seattle, WA
Alexis Hotel, April - July 2010, Seattle, WA
Monarch Contemporary, Solo/Collaboration Exhibition - 'Meet Greet Rinse Repeat', April 2010, Seattle, WA
Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Invited Artist, curated by Chris Crites, April 2010, Seattle, WA
Northwind Arts Center, 'Pop This' with Mike Leavitt, September 2010, Port Townsend, WA

SELECTED 2009 EVENTS
Flatcolor Gallery, TWOTHOUSANDTEN, group show, December 2009, Seattle, WA
Kirkland Art Center, REDUX Fine Art Auction, December 2009, Kirkland, WA
C Art Gallery, Susan G. Komen Benefit Juried Exhibition, group show, October 2009, Seattle, WA
The New Guard, Inaugural Artist, curated by Joey Veltkamp, solo show, September 2009, Seattle, WA
Vermillion Gallery, Do You See Me?, July 2009, solo show, Seattle, WA
Seattle Art Museum Sales and Rental Gallery, Introductions 2009, group show, March 2009
8th Annual PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Auction, Fall 2009, Seattle, WA
Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Invited Artist, May 2009
Vermillion Gallery, group show, March 2009, Seattle, WA
ArtsWest, The Feminine Myth, group show, March 2009, West Seattle, WA
The Hideout, Seattle, WA
Halogen Gallery, Local Aesthetic, group show, January 2009, Seattle, WA
Second Annual Collective Visions Gallery Show, February 2009, Bremerton, WA
Juror Gary Faigin, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Gage Academy of Art

SELECTED 2007 and 2008 EVENTS
Art Port Townsend, October 2008, Northwind Arts Center, Port Townsend, WA
Juror Barbara Shaiman, SAM Gallery Director, Special Award for "The Boy King of Pop"
Coos Art Museum, April - July 2008, Expressions West 2008, Coos Bay, OR
Juror Gary Faigin, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Gage Academy of Art
South Seattle Community College, Ready, Set, Go!, June - July 2008, Seattle, WA
Canvas, June - July 2008, Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA
The Soda Gallery, February - April 2008, Dallas, TX
Suite 100 Gallery, Girls By Boys, February 2008, Seattle, WA
Lana Santorelli Gallery, September - October 2007, Southampton, NY