40 under 40: Nick Dong

I was born in and grew up in Taiwan—a middle child, an Ox, and a Libra. At age nine I started
to study all kinds of art, at age nineteen I decided to be an artist for life. I arrived
in the US in 1999, that's when the clash and the fusion began. I'm a hybrid of diverse
cultures. I'm an introspective advocate. I'd much rather touch the inside even just ever
so lightly. I find inspiration from human interaction—how we connect or disconnect,
how we measure up to one another in society. An installation that includes ten thousand
hand-made porcelain tiles to provide an intimate tactile experience, a 24 karat gold lab with
633 LED lights to create a powerful visual experience and a transcendent experience called the “Enlightenment
Room.”