Denise Duong is a Vietnamese-American artist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Growing up in a city that, at the time, forced you to “make the fun or there was no fun”, was like having a blank canvas. Not only did it inspire her to create the city that she wanted, but also inspired her art and her wanderlust spirit. The intrigue of what was beyond boundaries, state lines, oceans, skies, the human psyche and the human spirit, is what plays, and continues to play an integral part of her inspiration and creativity.
After high school, she attended the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. Her style with narration deepened while waiting for trains and buses, creating long detailed drawings of her interpretations of her day to day of the chaos of being a young person being thrown into the vibrant chaos of a big city. Moving to Hawaii afterwards, sparked the love for nature. Its presence in her work became more prominent, along with changing the way she traveled.
After several years of traveling, she came back to Oklahoma City permanently in 2013, and it became the launching pad to all the adventures around the world to follow. These travels became a transformative time in her work and life. It evolved into a story of life that went beyond the explorations, but the deep emotional expressions and connections that accompanied it.
Duong and her artist and life partner, Gabriel Friedman, and two girls, continue to create art in Oklahoma City while traveling often. Her canvas work and murals can be seen nationally and internationally.
2025
The Unyielding Spirit — MA Doran Gallery, Tulsa, OK
2024
AAPINH Art Gallery at Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris Residence, Washington, D.C.
This Is How It Is — JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2023
Future Reimagined — JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2020
Continuum: The Indefinite Progress of Existence — JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2019
Off the Deep End — 21c Museum & Hotel, Oklahoma City, OK
L — Galerie Aile, Seoul, South Korea
Untitled, J GO Gallery, Park City, UT
Untitled, Vickers Collection, Aspen, CO
2018
Chemers Gallery, Tustin, CA
J GO Gallery, Park City, UT
2017
Light in the Dark – JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2016
Untitled – J Go Gallery, Park City, UT
Living and Breathing - Gallery Aile, Seoul, South Korea
2015
It’s All Good — Mainline, Tulsa, OK
Flux — JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2013
Oxymoron — JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
To Pioneer — Gaylord Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
2012
Memoirs — JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2011
The Art of Journeying — Portsmouth Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
2010
Delicious — Oklahoma State Capitol Art Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK
Aria — Phoenix Gallery, Park City, UT?
2025
Mother of All Art Shows — Eden Studio, New York, NY?
I Give To you A Piece of Me-Art Now (collaborative interactive sculpture with Gabriel Friedman) — Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
2024
Transitions — Oklahoma Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
2023
J Go Gallery at Bainbridge, Bainbridge, Washington
2022
Whompa Gallery, Tulsa, Ok
J Go Gallery, Park City, UT
2021
Left Hand of Liminality (with Gabriel Friedman) — Mainsite Gallery, Norman, OK
2019
Winter, J Go Gallery, Park City, UT
2018
Vickers Collection, Aspen CO
2017
Vox Femina — Art of the Ozarks, Arkansas
2015
Its all good - Mainline, Tulsa, OK
J GO Gallery, Park City, UT
Iocovozzi Gallery, Savannah GA
DAB Art & Hud Gallery, Ventura, CA
2014
JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
2013
Oxymoron -JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
To Pioneer - Gaylord Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
2012
Memoirs - JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, OK
Portraits - Artist Registry, Washington D.C
2011
Portsmouth Museum of Art, Portsmouth, NH
Energaia Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX?
?
2026
Formless Matter (coming May) — Campbell Art Park, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts, Oklahoma City, OK
2025
We Have Arrived — Vietnamese Boat Project sculpture, Asian District, Oklahoma City, OK
Ready or Not — Sunnydayz Mural Festival, Oklahoma City, OK
Metamorphosis — mural, Kochi, India
2024
Artwork commissioned by National Endowment for the Humanities Washington D.C
Painting and prints for Skirvin Hilton Hotel, Oklahoma City, OK
Shadow Play art Installation on Deep Fork Trail, Commissioned by City of Oklahoma City
Slate Design mural, Omaha, Nebraska
ACLUOK art Commission, Oklahoma City OK
Architecture Firm mural, Durham, North Carolina
Veterinary Clinic mural, Edmond, OK
Firehouse Art Center mural, Norman, OK
Baile Folklorico Sculptures(3), Capitol Hill, Oklahoma City, OK
2023
Echo Investments medical mural, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Poor Yorick Studios mural - SLC Mural Festival, Salt Lake City, Utah
Water Tower mural wrap, Bricktown, Oklahoma City, OK
2022
Echo Investments mural, Downtown Oklahoma City, OK
Pepper and Devaughn mural, Oklahoma City, OK
2021
Asian District mural, Oklahoma City, OK
Adair Law mural, Manhattan, Kansas
Wonderhaus mural, Pagosa Springs, Colorado
2020
The Unexpected Us (with Gabriel Friedman) — Oklahoma Contemporary,
Scissortail Park, Oklahoma City,
Echo Investments mural, Downtown Oklahoma City, OK
Stella mural, Midtown Oklahoma City, OK
Uhills mural, Uhill Mural Festival Durham, North Carolina
Peak (Indoor and outdoor)mural, Oklahoma City, OK
North Peak mural, North Oklahoma City, OK
Well well.. mural, Plaza Walls Mural Festival Oklahoma City OK
2019
Communa 13 mural, Medellin, Colombia
Life In the Light mural I and II -West Village Parking Garage mural, Film Row, Oklahoma City, OK
I See You-Habit Mural fesGval, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Peak indoor mural, Oklahoma City, OK
2018
Oklahoma Contemporary mural, Oklahoma City, OK
It Can Beau'ful -Lyric Theater mural, Oklahoma City, OK
2017
Fundamental Plaza Walls mural fesGval, Oklahoma City, OK
Mural Fest 66, Miami, Oklahoma
Paseo Plunge mural, Oklahoma City, OK
2016
Plaza Walls mural, Oklahoma City, OK
The Drawing Room mural, Kochi, India
2024
Putnam City Foundation Wall of Fame Induction
Oklahoma History Archives Community Impact Award
Vice President Kamala Harris AAPI Heritage Night Market Artist
2021 Presented to City of Oklahoma City Art Commissioner
2019 Paseo Artist of the Year, Oklahoma City, OK
2010 Hope for a Cure Artist for President George H. W. Bush, Washington, D.C.
My work is a deep dive into the emotional and spiritual aspects of being a human. The explorations of the curious and the love of all the tiny moments. There is always a story hidden behind the eyes and the way its interpreted. All the little aspects mixed into a potion of stories within a story.
Most of my work is interpreted by the female figure with all the aspects of nature and environmental elements. The work is narrative and can be quite personal, touching base on current times and the past. My work can require a lot of research as I love history and incorporating site specific pieces to have elements of the people, nature, and history of its’ surroundings.
https://www.okc.gov/Community-Recreation/Office-of-Arts-Cultural-Affairs/Artist-Registry/Denise-Duong