Thu Van Tran gets her inspiration mainly from her complex cultural background: Born in Vietnam and raised in Paris, she unites two cultures that could not be more different. In her works, she uses forms and materials culled from literature, history, architecture, and nature. Here Tran draws on the history of the late 19th century and visualizes it in a language of poetic symbolism. In the 1840s, there was a huge demand for latex rubber, with more and more steam locomotives relying on rubber gaskets, submarine hubs being constructed with rubber sheathing, and the general surge of the production of rubber hoses, both durable and flexible. Prices exploded as people risked their lives to get the milky latex from rubber trees. The installation Penetrable consists of a unique piece that can only be created on-site by the artist. The result consists of a special blend of rubber and chemical pigments that, like a second skin, covers and permeates the immaculate surface of a white wall. This site-specific painting can be perceived as a means of transforming our fate on the basis of history. With subtlety and poetry, it portrays the deficiencies and irrationality of human nature.
