Cedric Vu "Do You Smell Fumes?" Tufted Yarn Self Portrait, Gas Mask Figure, Electric Green, Contemporary California Textile Art, Pop Art, 2025

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A figure stands with arms crossed, a gas mask in place and a single red flower positioned at the head, … Read more A figure stands with arms crossed, a gas mask in place and a single red flower positioned at the head, all set against a blazing field of electric green. The image registers instantly, color, confrontation, and presence arriving together. Tufted in acrylic yarn on cotton at 68 by 48 inches, the work fills a room, while up close the surface turns unexpectedly soft, the dimensional yarn pushing gently against the severity of the image it forms.

This is one of Cedric Vu's most psychologically charged self-portraits, using his own likeness to ask what it means to wear a mask while still discovering who is underneath it. Hung in an entry, study, or statement wall, it commands attention immediately and rewards a second, closer look. Its high-contrast palette and bold scale make it a natural centerpiece for a collector drawn to color-forward, conceptually rich figurative work.

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