This Is Who We Are: Tomas Vu-Daniel
This Is Who We Are is a series featuring Columbia School of the Arts’ professors, covering careers, pedagogy, and art-making. Here, we talk with Professor Tomas Vu-Daniel about art as a way to make friends, the blessings of printmaking, and how his teaching method encourages open-ended exploration over definite answers.
Born in Da Nang, Saigon, Professor Tomas Vu-Daniel grew up amid the chaos of the Vietnam War. He often used discarded grenades as a fishing tool and heard the constant sound of gunfire until the 70s, when his family moved to Texas. Vu-Daniel was expecting the bustling cities he’d watched on TV but found the quiet, dusty landscapes of El Paso instead. Adjusting to this new environment was challenging, especially with the language barrier; but he soon found a way to make new friends: art.
“I started drawing scenes about the war: tanks and helicopters—things my schoolmates were seeing every day on TV. I saw art as a way to communicate, the easiest way to communicate. It’s very universal. Those kids didn’t like me at the beginning, but they liked my drawings. Early on in my life, I saw the value of art.”
Eventually, Vu-Daniel earned a BFA from the University of Texas, El Paso, in 1987. Though he initially aimed to become an artist, his mother pushed him towards a more lucrative career. “It’s the traditional [story of] immigrant parents; they want you to be successful. Art was a luxury. She didn’t see the real value,” he said. “I did graphic design for three months, but I was miserable. So I went to graduate school to study more.”
Vu-Daniel went on to receive his MFA from Yale University in 1990, a time he describes as both brutal and formative. Previously, Vu had been working at the US border with a group of refugees from El Salvador who were fleeing from the Salvadoran Civil War, where death squads—indirectly funded and armed by the US—were killing thousands of civilians and activists. So during his time at Yale, Vu-Daniel’s work was already highly political. Despite criticism from his professors, who told Vu-Daniel he should stop being a painter if he wanted to be an activist, Vu-Daniel persisted. His work, which draws on his experiences of growing up in Vietnam and current events, still explores themes of memory, landscape, imagination, technology, and resistance. His Surfboards project (2011–present) investigates war, mechanized violence, technology, and its ability to enhance or destroy life. Another series, Green Go Home (2013–present), created in collaboration with Professor Rirkrit Tiravanija, includes site-specific installations integrating prints, graffiti, and live drawing to explore themes of resistance.
“Very early on, printmaking was the biggest, easiest vehicle to get artwork from the studio to the people."
It was Vu-Daniel's interest in activism that sparked an interest in printmaking. Early on, the practice allowed him to produce multiple copies of a single image, making art accessible to a broader audience. He saw himself as a printmaker artist, not necessarily an activist, yet he couldn’t help but notice the bridge between the two. “You see those protests out there?” he said back in the printmaking room, with a smile on his face, pointing to the Columbia lawn where a blanket of tents and dozens of signs—some nearly as elaborate as art installations—had sprung up in response to Israel’s military action in Gaza. “These kids know how to use it.”
Now, Vu-Daniel holds the LeRoy Neiman Professorship in Visual Arts and serves as Artistic Director at the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies. Vu-Daniel finds printmaking especially rewarding because it presents art as something shareable, not just a precious, singular object. This passion extends to his teaching, where he emphasizes the communal and collaborative aspects of printmaking. “Very early on, printmaking was the biggest, easiest vehicle to get artwork from the studio to the people. It's not precious like paintings; it’s a print. I can make hundreds of these prints out of one matrix, one block, one woodblock, or one plate. It was the easiest way to communicate big, expansive narratives.”
Reflecting on his teaching philosophy, Vu-Daniel explains that his approach is shaped by his own experiences as a student. “Did he do me a favor?” he said, remembering his Yale professor who invited him to stop being an artist if he wanted to be so political. “By reacting against him, I learned something. But as a professor, I don’t want to be the guy that discourages a student. I want to inspire them,” he said. “Some students just need some nurturing instead of a confrontational tone. I’m giving my students the tools and the knowledge so they can get their own artistic answers. But they are the ones that have to reach them.”
Then, after a brief silence, he continued. “Art is subjective. There’s no right and wrong. The best professors are those that push you into finding your own answers. As artists, we are trying to discover what is uncomfortable for us; what makes us tick. I know the different techniques of printmaking, that’s a skill I can teach them. But then, I tell them: go out and mess it up. Sometimes they get frustrated, but with time, they learn from their mistakes. If I can leave it with that, I’m happy.”
“Being an artist is a marathon, not a sprint," he said. “You will see the rewards down the line. If you don’t, at least you’re doing something that makes you think every single day.”
Before wrapping up the interview, I asked for advice: what should Visual Art students know about their future career? Vu-Daniel grinned. “Are you sure you want my advice? Don’t be an artist!” Vu-Daniel doesn’t sugarcoat reality. He advises that if your goal is to make money, you should look elsewhere. Art demands that you live with your demons and face a constant struggle for expression and recognition. The path is tough, often devoid of financial stability, and filled with rejection. “But if you are already interested in this, prepare yourself to endure the hard work and high failure rate associated with an artistic career.” This is a crucial point in his teaching philosophy: talent alone doesn’t guarantee success; perseverance does. “Being an artist is a marathon, not a sprint," he said. “You will see the rewards down the line. If you don’t, at least you’re doing something that makes you think every single day.”
Tomas Vu-Daniel received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship award in 2001, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Artist Award in 2017. He has had solo exhibitions at the Kohler Experience Center and Showroom, New York (2023), The Boiler, Brooklyn NY (2022), and many others. Recent group exhibitions include Heat Silhouette (collaboration with Rafael Domenach), The Revolution Will Come in Every Direction (collaboration with Professor Rirkrit Tiravanija), and many others.