Datsun Tran

BORN 1980 Melbourne, Australia

STUDIES
Creative Advertising, RMIT

BACKGROUND
Tran is a first generation Australian from a refugee family who, as a child, had predetermined career choices that were medicine, law, accounting or engineering.
Pivotal in Datsun Tran’s decision to become an artist, was an animated feature of George Orwell’s Animal Farm that he viewed at the age of 9. Datsun Tran says “I was transfixed. It was the first time I had watched something entertaining that felt weighty; there was something behind all those talking animals. Something that reminded me of us”. Tran has since used animal imagery in his art, extensively.
Tran uses animal imagery an exploration of human nature through symbolism and metaphor, and the search for the sublime. He explores these themes through animals for their lack of sex, race and status. He believes they are a mirror for ourselves.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Anima, Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Sydney

2015    Beautiful Fierce, Bromley & Co, Melbourne

2013    My Life in a Glass Case, Platform Art Space, Melbourne

2012    Echoes from a Future Dream, Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra,

2011    Before The Scream, Magazine Gallery,  Adelaide
Menagerie, Gomersal Wines SALA,  Barossa Valley

2006    Recent Works, Grace Emily Gallery, Adelaide

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015    Australian Landscape, Alex McCulloch Art, Mount Macedon

2014    Grand Opening, Bromley & Co, Melbourne
Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide
The Storytellers, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
Enigma 23, Arts SA, Adelaide
Small Wonders, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong

2012    Londinium, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

2011    Winged Things, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, New York
Small Wonder 2011, Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra
Birds and Trees, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
Red Dot Group Show, 19 Karen,  Gold Coast
Another Time Another Place, Bromley Arcade, Sydney

2010    Small Wonder, Paintbox Fine Art, Canberra

2009    Painting 09B, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
Curated by David Bromley, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
Small Works, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne

2007    Recent Works, Studio Barcelona, Adelaide
Recent Works, Zohara Gallery, Adelaide

2001    Sequentialism, Mansour + Hill Galleries, Melbourne

PRIZES & AWARDS
2015   Whyalla Art Prize (finalist)
Emma Hack Art Prize (finalist)

2014   Hornsby Art Prize (Finalist)
Linden Contemporary Postcard Show (finalist)
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (finalist)
Percival Portrait Painting Prize (finalist)
Emma Hack Art Prize (finalist)
Adelaide Parklands Art Prize (finalist)
Rick Amor Frawing Prize (finalist)

2013   Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (semi-finalist)
TedXBrisbane (artist in residence)
Fleurieu Art Prize (water and environment finalist)
RSASA Portrait Prize (semi finalist)
Lethbridge 10000 (finalist)

2012   61st Blake Prize (Director’s cut exhibition)

2011   Waterhouse Art Prize (finalist & highly commended)

2010   Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize (finalist)

2008   Victorian Salon de Refuses – Hidden faces of the Archibald