Cedric Vu "Lago" Black and White Tufted Yarn Portrait, High Contrast Figure, Floral Motif, Contemporary California Textile Art, Pop Art, 2025

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Rendered entirely in black and white, this piece is immediate and high-contrast: a face emerges from curling, looping forms, white … Read more Rendered entirely in black and white, this piece is immediate and high-contrast: a face emerges from curling, looping forms, white flowers threading through the hair as if they had always belonged there. Up close the surface is dense and tactile, every loop of yarn working together to hold the image steady. Stepped back from, it resolves into something graphic and striking, the tension between intimacy and impact that runs through Cedric Vu's strongest work.

Compact at 41 by 25 inches, Lago suits a powder room, study nook, or as part of a gallery wall grouping where its monochrome palette can ground more color-saturated neighbors. Its scale makes it an accessible entry point into Vu's practice for a collector drawn to his figurative language but working with a smaller wall.

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