At Art Basel Paris, Minh Lan Tran unveils new works that expand her exploration of matter, memory, and consciousness. Working with natural latex and egg as primal materials, she investigates fragility, resilience, and translucency—gestural layers that echo cultural histories while inviting intimate, universal reflection.
Minh Lan Tran on Balancing Matter and Consciousness
Minh Lan Tran, “Untitled 0,” 2025, Sumi ink on wood, 1820 × 910 mm, photo by Yuma
Minh Lan Tran, “Untitled 5,” 2025, egg, pigment, paper, fabric, tape, and charcoal on wood, 1820 x 910 mm, photo by Yuma Nishimura, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Common.
WHITEWALL: Your practice often weaves together memory, materiality, and cultural identity. How do these themes manifest in the body of work you’re preparing for this upcoming presentation?
MIN LAN TRAN: One of the questions that is deeply rooted in what I do is the relationship between matter and consciousness. It keeps re-emerging under different forms. My role in this is to let things pass through me and become a sort of medium, an active medium, just as the painting is an interface where different layers of existence aggregate.
In the works I’m currently working on and will be showing at Art Basel, I’m addressing the translucency of the surface by working on a natural latex that has the quality of a membrane. I often think of the veil that separates life and death. Latex allows me to build through layers as much as when I work on linen, so it’s more about the precision of the intention of gestures than building through layers.
“There is no more universal experience than what we experience intimately within ourselves,”
-Minh Lan Tran
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Common.
Minh Lan Tran, “Untitled 2,” 2025, Sumi Ink, egg, fabric, paper, pigments, and oil on wood, 1820 x 910 mm, photo by Yuma Nishimura, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Common.
WW: Many of your works balance fragility and resilience whether through choice of medium or subject matter. What role does material experimentation play in shaping the narratives you want to convey?
MLT: I think the example of latex is quite relevant here, on this combined feeling of fragility and resilience you are mentioning. It has this tensed yet ethereal quality; it can hold a lot of tension while having a level of translucency that only lets the light come through, and still, there is always the possibility of a tear. It is also a discreet reference to the history of the rubber industry in Vietnam and the still ongoing felling of trees to extract the substance.
Another element of my painting is egg, beyond the technical qualities it has to offer, it is at a state of matter that is just about to turn into being, a sort of primal matter. It is like building a world.
WW: Your works seem to invite viewers into intimate yet universal spaces of reflection. How do you navigate the line between personal storytelling and collective resonance?
MLT: That’s an interesting question because ultimately, there is no more universal experience than what we experience intimately within ourselves. The “Way out is In” as the Zen Buddhist tradition says. Ultimately I believe that something from my work that has somehow passed through my heart has the potential to resonate with other people.
What to Know
Don’t Miss: New works by Minh Lan Tran exploring fragility and resilience through latex and egg as primal materials.
Why it Matters: Her practice weaves memory, matter, and consciousness, offering universal reflection through intimate gestures and cultural histories.
Venue: On view at Art Basel Paris.
Where Based: Minh Lan Tran is based in Paris.
Practice: Minh Lan Tran’s multidisciplinary practice spans painting, writing, and performance, exploring embodiment, resistance, and language through material experimentation and cultural memory.
