Cedric Vu "28" Acrylic Yarn Self Portrait, Tufted Textile, Male Figure, Warm Orange, Contemporary California Textile Art, Pop Art, 2025

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A face looks directly back at the viewer, chin resting on folded arms, a single yellow flower tucked into the … Read more A face looks directly back at the viewer, chin resting on folded arms, a single yellow flower tucked into the hair. There is no mask, no costume, no prop, just Cedric Vu rendered in dense loops of acrylic yarn. The warm orange ground gives the figure a steady glow, and the tufted texture of the skin catches and holds light in a way that flat photography cannot replicate. The gaze is calm, direct, and entirely unflinching.

At 60 by 73 inches, this piece commands a living room, primary suite, or gallery wall where its scale and warmth can fully register. It belongs in a space built around contemplation, somewhere a viewer can sit with that returned gaze. Vu's self-portrait practice began as a practical training exercise in tufting and has since become the emotional core of his studio work, each piece functioning as a record of technical and personal growth.

Cedric Vu (b. 1996) is a French-Vietnamese contemporary visual artist born and raised in San Jose, California. He spent nearly a decade in Los Angeles, where he studied filmmaking, worked as a dancer, and held a range of production roles in film and television before returning to his hometown in 2024 to establish a physical art practice rooted in creative authorship and independence.

Teaching himself to tuft yarn, Vu creates striking human portraits defined by vibrant color, bold composition, and tactile depth. Working primarily in hand-tufted textiles, he transforms yarn into expressive, dimensional surfaces that feel both contemporary and visually compelling, often using his own image as he developed his technique in the medium. The physicality of the medium gives each subject weight and presence: up close, the surface is soft and richly textured, while stepped back, the composition resolves with graphic clarity.

Vu has exhibited at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, where he also serves as an Art Preparator, and his work will be featured in the 2027 group exhibition Echoes of Being at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. His work has captured the attention of collectors and stylists alike, including image architect Law Roach, known for his collaborations with Zendaya and Celine Dion. See less