Nan Nan's Inspirations

Nan Nan's artwork is inspired by the colors and textures of Myanmar. Myanmar art has a long history of art made for the Buddhist temples as well as more modern, non-religious subjects such as historical portraits, still life, and Myanmar landscapes. Myanmar, although cut off from the world's art scene for years, incubated a surprisingly bold contemporary world of abstraction and conceptual art. This exciting scene has had a new rejuvenation as the fold of the past unveils itself into a rich contemporary art world that is now textural, nuanced and multilayered.

Although these seemingly disparate art historical periods aren't at first obviously part of Nan Nan's contemporary artwork; they actually have been important departure points of influence on Nan Nan and her daring artwork. Very few artists traditionally practice abstraction although it is an important aspect of south East Asian art in the last 25 years. Nan Nan's work was born from a strong realistic painting background seeded in her sense of history and family. Nan Nan had to break the tradition by creating her own varied art world filled with her personalized style of abstraction along with verve, love and great enthusiasm.

Few women artists in Myanmar have been able to take their art beyond the everyday into a more magical world of abstraction and simplicity. As a young woman, Nan Nan broke with tradition to find new ways to see and express her world as a woman, mother and artist. Nan Nan feels this is linked directly to her environment. The stark contrasts of life in Myanmar comes out in bold ways in her compositions. She loves strong configuration and structure, as well as tight, limited subjects. Nan Nan's love of pure form is easy to see in her bold images and powerful sculptures. Her interest in purity of brushstroke and color tell a story deepened by her varied experiences on the road traveling throughout Asia and Myanmar. Her long practice of meditation and her interest in the everyday way of life though simplicity, is a way one could understand the influxes of inspiration for her work.

Nan Nan's energy and love of duality is at constant play in all her artwork. Nan Nan's painting strokes gather a kind of full volume from the pulses of the everyday breathed in through life in downtown Yangon on 14th street and exhaled out through stroke and color and form. Her art is influenced directly from the everyday and made special through her generous heart and creative spirit.

She has an interweaving style that jumps boundaries between visions, materials and 3D forms to arrive at a unique self-expression. Her creative energy is infectious and through her dynamism and style, she is one of the top women artists and teachers in Yangon, Myanmar today.