Mary Nguyen Discusses TMU Partnership & 'Montauk Glow' Cover Art

This week’s cover art, “Montauk Glow,” showcases the collaborative efforts of artists Mary Nguyen and Denise Nguyen, who work together under the shared alias TMU to create colorful geometric abstractions of beautiful vistas across the Hamptons and beyond. Represented by Fremin Gallery in New York City, the aunt-niece duo go by the acronym TMU as a way to honor their Vietnamese birthnames: Trang (Mary) and Mỹ Uyen (Denise).

Here, Mary discusses how this unique partnership works, what inspired “Montauk Glow” and what’s next for TMU.

A Chat with Mary Nguyen of TMU

When did you and Denise begin collaborating under the artist alias TMU, and at what stage of your separate careers were you at that time?

We started collaborating around December 2022 coming up with ideas as to how to work on the project together. We are both self-taught painters and have never shown in any galleries up until June of 2023, so we were emerging artists.

How does the TMU collaborative process work? Do you and Denise contribute to different aspects/steps of the creation process, or do you work together from start to finish? 

The collaboration kind of fell together organically. Denise is my niece, and we have worked together on many other projects that are not art related, so it was something that came very natural for us. We really work from beginning to end on every aspect of a piece together — from photographing the location, sketching and then painting — it is all done as a collaboration.

We will paint separate pieces at the same time, and then switch back and forth adding our own touches and flair to it. It is actually similar to a symphony; we know the cues of when to jump in on a piece, and when to step back and allow the other person to begin. I guess that comes with working together seven days a week, you build a rhythm, and it works really well for us.

What inspired TMU to create your “Montauk Glow” painting, and what is it about the Hamptons, and especially Montauk, that continues to serve as a muse for you?

As a child, I spent my summers in the Hamptons, and they were some of the happiest times of my life. We would go to see the lighthouse, and I was always so curious about it, but also Montauk — there has always been a quiet beauty that radiates from there. The memories of the summers of my youth really come to play when I think of the Hamptons, and starting this painting project, I wanted to bring forth those feelings again. Summers lost, simpler times from my childhood and trying to capture the “glow” of my memories from such a special place like Montauk and the Hamptons.

When TMU sets out to paint a landscape as iconic as Montauk Point, how do you strike a balance between geometric abstraction and recognizable imagery?

It is not an easy task, because the lighthouse is so iconic; we really try to put more of our own spin on it and try to capture the essence of it. The light and colors are caught in specific moments, and we paint from there, but always with the lighthouse as an anchor.

What is one of the most impressive accolades or rewarding accomplishments of TMU’s career so far?

For us, it’s simple, the reward is seeing the reaction of the people who see our works and how it affects them. The collectors that have put our works in their homes and the joy that it brings to them is so wonderful to hear. But also, seeing the reaction through my daughter Monica’s eyes, and how it ignites in her a love for art, really has been the most rewarding of it all.

What is one goal that you and Denise hope to achieve with your TMU collaboration in 2024?

We are aiming to work with other galleries this year in Europe and different parts of the U.S. … Stay tuned!

Would you like to share any closing thoughts or additional info about TMU’s upcoming exhibitions/projects?

We are so thrilled to announce that we will be having our first solo exhibition at the Fremin Gallery in New York City on May 23 and will also be participating in the Affordable Art Fair in NYC and Austin, the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, as well as the Hamptons Fine Art Fair in July.

To see more of TMU’s art at Fremin Gallery, visit fremingallery.com/artist/tmu.