As part of his daily practice, Dan Tran draws a single invented symbol in one compartment of a self-made grid on sheets of standard copy paper (either 8.5” x 11” and 8.5” x 14”). He refers to this ongoing practice as “Calendars” and works on multiple sheets with differing symbols simultaneously. Each consistent gesture marks the passage of time while gradually building a larger composition and a new visual record.

Dan draws deep inspiration from both world history and current events. Many of the colored symbols on his calendars, he explains, represent shields and crosses tied to events from the history of the Crusades. Others reflect the colors of national flags involved in present-day conflicts, such as the Ukrainian-Russian war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some symbols are known only to Dan himself. Interwoven with these symbols are Dan’s handwritten reminders of holidays, personal milestones, and significant dates in American history. 

Tracking shifts in response to news and public sentiment, Dan remains non-dogmatic and free from a fixed agenda. The symbols he creates reflect his fascination with both historical and contemporary events. By drawing different symbols across concurrently running calendars, Dan presents world history, current events and time in a linear yet layered three-dimensional conceptual form.

What starts as a routine action transforms into a reflection on process and transience. The work is fluid and multifaceted: part art-making, part record-keeping, part data visualization. It results not only in striking individual and collective compositions, but also in the creation of a system that expresses a private visual language offering insight into Tran’s relationship with time, history, memory, politics, and impermanence.

This exhibition is the result of a collaboration between artist Dan Tran and the North Pole Studio team: Mary Ellen Andersen, Celeste Gutentag, Jade Novarino, and Exhibitions Manager Krista Gregory. The process began with over 1,000 sheets of paper, which Tran initially sorted into groups based on color and symbol. Krista Gregory then refined these groupings, taking into account the gallery space and overall exhibition design, before returning them to Tran. He arranged the final selections in chronological order, a sequence reflected in the exhibition’s layout. Each group’s composition is based on the number of sheets Tran used to explore the life of a particular symbol. Groups containing seven or more sheets are displayed in rows of seven, sometimes stacked, referencing Tran’s ongoing interest in the structure of the Western calendar.

Each grouping is titled according to the symbols’ lifespan.

Dan Tran (b.1986) is a multimedia artist who works across origami, drawing, painting, and ink. Dan is known by his family and community for his resilience of spirit, which is reflected in the joyful, color-rich way he captures often heavy and complex subject matter. Through his paintings, Dan interweaves his passions for cooking, flora and fauna, historical events, popular culture, and politics to form a body of work that celebrates global culture and brings awareness to social injustice. References to Vietnam are often woven throughout Dan’s work through an ongoing exploration of personal identity and homage to his culture of origin. Dan’s recent works reflect his concerns about contemporary politics, including the election, war in Ukraine, and more. His well-researched collections capture a wide variety of materials relating to each theme, including cultural icons, everyday citizens, regional and traditional food, and objects and places of significance. Additionally, Dan enjoys still-life painting and life drawing and is affectionately known as a renaissance man.

Dan is a member of North Pole Studio, a Portland Oregon based Progressive Art Studio that supports careers in the arts, and exists to increase opportunities for artists with autism and intellectual / developmental disabilities to thrive as active members of the arts community.

Photographed by Aaron Wessling