Huê Thi Hoffmaster

B. Lancaster, PA, 1982

Huê Thi Hoffmaster is the son of Vietnamese and American parents and a painter living and working in Weston, CT. Hoffmaster attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and spent his early career exploring the full spectrum of abstraction and representation; his current work reflects the formal breadth of his vision.

Oscillating between improvisation and meticulous rendition, the floral bouquets of Hoffmaster’s compositions combine delicate blossoms with heavy bursts of color. The arrangements alternatively materialize as portrait-like studies and playful scenes that balance between non-objective abstraction and representational image making. Hoffmaster’s thickets of paint threaten to outgrow the boundaries of his canvas as he actively cultivates tension — between Eastern and Western aesthetic traditions, curiosity and cognizance, the seen and unseen.

He says of his process: “I test the limits of my ignorance and pursue what may very well be useless, as I go in search of that mystery and intuition that may or may not exist within me.” The subject of his work shifts depending on his mood at the moment when he approaches the canvas. Hoffmaster feels that the aesthetic variety of his work reflects his emotional state and his approach to painting as a game. His work is characterized by frenetic lines and masses of color. Mirroring the ethos of the action painters, Hoffmaster sees art-making as an event where he can embrace the inconsistencies and energy of the moment.