Cedric Vu "Phosphenes" Acrylic Yarn on Cotton, Large Tufted Boxer Self Portrait in Red, Bay Area California Art, Original 53 X 72 Inches, 2025

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In this large tufted self-portrait in acrylic yarn on cotton by Bay Area artist Cedric Vu, a shirtless boxer squares … Read more In this large tufted self-portrait in acrylic yarn on cotton by Bay Area artist Cedric Vu, a shirtless boxer squares up against a deep crimson ground, one fist drawn forward toward us and the other raised at his shoulder. A loose ring of cream, yellow and white daisies orbits his head like the flashes seen after a blow, and bright red yarn trickles from the nose and mouth down the chest and over the knuckles. The skin is built from tan, camel and chocolate brown tufts in flat, sculpted shapes. Vu made this self-portrait in acrylic yarn on cotton, and the blood, tufted in soft red yarn, keeps the violence tender and tactile up close.

Its scale and deep red give a living room, a den or a double-height entry a commanding focal point. It looks right with olive green velvet, cognac leather, walnut and brass, and it warms a white plaster wall. Hung in a home gym, a loft or a collector's study, it carries real presence, and the daisies add a lighter note to the room. This piece is unframed and will be shipped unstretched, carefully rolled in a protective tube.

Acrylic yarn on cotton, 53 x 72 x 1.5 in (134.6 x 182.9 x 3.8 cm).

Cedric Vu makes his work with a tufting gun, punching acrylic yarn through cotton cloth stretched on a frame he built himself. Each image is mapped in flat shades, so color planning matters: a missing skin tone or red can stall a piece for weeks while the yarn is sourced. The dense pile reads like a printed image from across the room and turns soft and tactile up close.

Cedric Vu (b. 1996) is a French-Vietnamese, self-taught artist based in San Jose, California. He lived in Los Angeles from 2014 to 2023, studied narrative film and television production at California State University, Long Beach, and worked in film production and as a dancer before picking up a tufting gun in 2023.

He builds his own tufting frames and renders portraits in acrylic yarn on cotton, planning color and skin tone shade by shade. His work has been shown at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, where he also works as an art preparator, and in Busan, South Korea, with a museum show planned in Bakersfield. It is held in the private collection of stylist Law Roach. Cinema, literature, pop culture and personal experience feed his portraits. See less