Josie Collier
Executive Features Editor
Blake Griffin, Post Malone, 21 Savage, and Liza Koshy are just a few of the names that made the US and Canada 2019 Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 list, and along side those successful individuals includes Mira Costa alum Julien Nguyen.
“Forbes” Magazine recognizes the 30 most successful people in 20 different categories every year and this year they recognized 27 year old, Mira Costa alum, Julien Nguyen in the Art and Style category.
“Well it is just really nice to feel that people can consider my work worthy of being grouped in with some of the best,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen is based out of Los Angeles and received his nomination at the beginning of November and then filled out a questionnaire regarding his work and accomplishments. The Forbes 30 under 30 list was later released on Nov. 13.
“Other people nominate me [for the list], and they have a panel of people for each category including professionals in the industry,” Nguyen said. “[From the many nominations], they choose a handful of people to send out questionnaires to and then they can choose you in a few weeks.”
The judges for the Art and Style section included Tory Burch, an American fashion designer and CEO of her own line Tory Burch LLC, Nicole Miller, another American fashion designer. The third judge was Carter Cleveland, the founder and CEO of Artsy, the global platform for acquiring and discovering different art.
“[Being on the list] is it is also great for me because it allows more people to find the work and take a look at it if they desire to do so,” Nguyen said. “It is just great on all fronts.”
Nguyen graduated Mira Costa in 2009 and was a very active member in the art community across the South Bay. At Mira Costa, Nguyen took AP studio art and also went beyond the classroom to immerse himself in different opportunities to improve his art.
“I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was twelve or thirteen and I took a lot of private lessons and I took different kinds of painting workshops in the LA area,” Nguyen said. “I also spent a lot of time online researching paintings and drawings, so I did a lot of art from a very early age and I think that’s how I am able to do what I do today.”
After graduating Mira Costa, Nguyen attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Nguyen later dropped out of the Rhode Island School of Design, but continued to produce intellectual and influential artwork that reflects the world we live in today.
“I find inspiration for my art in a lot of places, I find it in my daily life, and I also find it in history and from the work of masters,” Nguyen said. “I also [find inspiration] in history from reading and in current events, so pretty much all over the place, but it is mainly a mix of daily life and history, which are two good places for my inspiration.”
A few of Nguyen’s artistic accomplishments include a solo exhibition titled “Ex Forti Dulcedo’ at the Modern Art in London, UK, which took place on May 18, 2018 – June 23, 2018. Two of his other exhibitions include “Superpredators” which was at the Freedman Fitzpatrick in Los Angeles in 2016 and “Late European Decadence,” an exhibition with other artists during 2015 at the Neue Alte Brücke in Frankfurt, Germany. Though, his most profound accomplishment included the purchase of his piece “Executive Solutions” which can be found at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
“The work that I am most proud of is to have one of my works in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art,” Nguyen said. “They bought a painting of mine a few years ago and when I did an exhibition there they acquired it, so that means it is there forever which is such an honor for me.”
Nguyen usually use oil paint for his art and paints on wooden panels. He also makes some drawings digitally on his ipad so he can sketch out ideas. According to Nguyen, he hopes that in all, this honor of being in the Forbes 30 under 30 list will improve his exposure as an artist.
“[For the future] I would like to keep making my paintings better and better and for now that is pretty much it,” Nguyen said.
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