For three months, beginning in September, six international artists created, collaborated and engaged with the Greater Cleveland community through our Creative Fusion international-artist-in-residence program. Hailing from Chile, Iran, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, the artists in the Creative Fusion 2015 fall class were in residency at local arts organizations including Cleveland Print Room, The Sculpture Center, Negative Space Gallery, Zygote Press, Rainey Institute and Waterloo Arts. We blogged about each artist in October, and now that the fall 2015 residency has ended, we’re giving a brief update about each artists’ work and experience during their time in our city. This is the third of six updates on the fall 2015 Creative Fusion artists.

Nguyen Manh Hung’s creativity blossomed on the canvas and on stage during his time at Negative Space Gallery. He painted tirelessly, completing an impressive number of works ahead of his solo exhibition, Where is the Enemy, at Negative Space. In addition to being a visual artist, Hung is also an experimental musician. He played guitar at Negative Space’s “jam nights” and even took the stage at his solo exhibition, where he played alongside the event’s performing (musical) act, Taylor Lamborn. 

Hung avidly explored the local art scene while in Cleveland. He made multiple trips to the Cleveland Museum of Art, took a printmaking class at Zygote Press and went gallery-hopping around town as he supported fellow Creative Fusion artists at their individual exhibitions. In a project that will leave a lasting mark on the city’s landscape, Hung helped Negative Space’s Gadi Zamir design a bar top and large wall painting for a new restaurant set to open in Asian Town Center in January 2016.