Cedric Vu "I Love Machiavelli" Tufted Yarn Figurative Portrait, Purple Bed, Gold Crown, Contemporary California Textile Art, Pop Art, 2025

Details

Description

A figure lies face down across a dense purple bed, a golden crown resting at the feet and a small … Read more A figure lies face down across a dense purple bed, a golden crown resting at the feet and a small orange flower placed gently on the back. The title is wry and literary, and the staged composition mirrors that humor exactly, equal parts theatrical awareness and unexpected tenderness. Cedric Vu studied filmmaking before he ever picked up a tufting gun, and that training shows clearly here, the image reads like a still pulled from a film worth watching twice.

At a square 61 by 61 inches, the piece anchors a bedroom, lounge, or any room that can hold its richly textured purple field and quiet narrative tension. The bedding, rendered in impossibly lush yarn, gives the surface a sumptuous, almost sculptural depth that photographs only begin to suggest. A standout for a collector drawn to cinematic staging and self-aware wit within figurative textile 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