Cedric Vu "Grwm" Horizontal Tufted Yarn Self Portrait, Face Fragments, Dark Field, Contemporary California Textile Art, Pop Art, 2025

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Up close, the work resolves into fragments: an eye, the bridge of a nose, the curve of a hand. Stepping … Read more Up close, the work resolves into fragments: an eye, the bridge of a nose, the curve of a hand. Stepping back locks the image into place, bold, cinematic, and quietly commanding. Cedric Vu tufted this horizontal self-portrait with the instincts of someone trained to think in frames, deciding precisely what to reveal and what to leave folded into shadow. A small white flower interrupts the dark field like a held breath, and the title, shorthand for get ready with me, turns an ordinary ritual into something magnetic.

The elongated 29 by 72 inch format suits a hallway, stairwell, or narrow wall where its horizontal sweep can unfold gradually as a viewer passes. The acrylic yarn surface offers genuine tactile warmth up close, drawing the eye in the way Vu's best intimate-scale portraits do, balancing restraint with an undeniable pull toward the image.

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