By: Linda Smith
Media Preservation Graduate Assistant
New York University
CLAMP gallery was packed on a Friday night to celebrate the opening of AsSimulation, a captivating photography exhibition by Pipo Nguyen-duy (Vietnamese American, b.1962). AsSimulation marks Pipo’s fourth solo show with CLAMP, and while the photographs are nearly 30 years old, they remain insightful and thought-provoking.
Initially conceived between 1995 and 1998, the photographs of AsSimulation include traditional East Asian theater visual imagery, like make-up harkening to Noh, traditional masked drama with song and dance; traditional East Asian dress and footwear such as Korean hanboks and Japanese geta, respectively; and expressive dance moves suspended in the frame, calling to mind chèo, a Vietnamese satirical musical theater that incorporates dance. These references are turned on their head in their display, as the poses, titles, and display call to mind traditional Renaissance and Baroque paintings and sculpture, while the series of photographs comments on gender, sexuality, and race.
Take, for example, Pipo’s photographic work (Fig.1) The Anonymous (Gabrielle d’Estrées) is a reinterpretation of (Fig.2) Gabrielle d’Estrées and The Duchess of Villars (alternatively titled Gabrielle d’Estrées and one of her sisters) by an anonymous painter. The original painting compels one to ask if the two primary subjects are truly sisters or if this is a window into a 16th-century lesbian encounter. Scholar Takashi Aso notes that “Nguyen-duy’s reconstruction points to the notion of the transgender…[undermining] the western tradition of fine arts, as he puts himself in a position of a sexually attractive European woman at the same time he demonstrates his own Asian identity by wearing Kimono-like cloth.”1
Pipo’s journey to becoming a photographer has been long, winding, and nothing short of amazing. As a teenager growing up 30 kilometers from the demilitarized zone of the 18th Parallel in Vietnam, he became so proficient in table tennis that he competed for his home country. He also briefly lived in Northern India as a Buddhist monk. Pipo moved to the United States to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at Carleton College, worked as a bartender and nightclub manager in New York City, and then completed two graduate degrees at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. Currently, Pipo works as a Professor of Studio Art and Photography at Oberlin College in Ohio. His charisma and desire to connect with former students and new visitors alike were evident, and everyone’s desire to talk to him was palpable and enlivened the experience.
- As quoted in “AsSimulation,” CLAMP Art, https://clampart.com/2025/08/assimulation-2/#thumbnails ↩︎
AsSimulation will be on view at CLAMP through November 1, 2025. The gallery is located at 247 West 29th Street, New York, NY 10001, with this exhibition occupying the first half of the ground floor. Check out thumbnails of the photographs, information about Pipo and his art, and other links on the gallery’s website (https://clampart.com/2025/08/assimulation-2/#thumbnails).
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