The finished project is called "Summer Cuts" and is a "large-scale intervention" installed alongside the windows in the Scott Galleries loggia at The Huntington Library in San Marino.
While the installation closed because of COVID-19, it reopened to the public on April 17.
According to the artist's representation, the large red curtain is slit, sliced and cut in a manner that resembles Nguyen's process of making images. The material is a metaphor for the technical process of photography itself, as it filters the natural light from outside and imprints textures onto the interior galleries.
To achieve this, Nguyen partnered with industry experts, exactly where S&H Rubber and Primetech Silicones came in. After agreeing to do it, Bremer said he met with the artist about what she wanted to accomplish. S&H made a few samples for her and then went to Primetech Silicones and met with Salvador Avalos.
"(Avalos) was readily available and we spent some time there on the mill putting the material in, changing the color from dark to light—even adding some sparkles to it at some point," Bremer said. "(We were) just trying to give the artist an idea of how the material would look when it was finished. We molded test slabs so she could get a visual on the color before we extruded the material."
The goal was to get the right shade of a translucent red that Nguyen was seeking.
"Once we got that, we went into production here to extrude the strips," Bremer said. "Then she did the final installation. She put the strips all together and then people at the museum actually hung the strips from there."
