Eyes Wide Shut

Thomas Han was born in 1979 in Taiwan, and he spent his formative years in San Francisco. He now resides in Los Angeles where he finds himself an oddball embraced by the evolving art scene. Han is known for his colorful, character-driven silk screens and paintings. He takes all the destruction and hedonism in today's world and channels it into his art. These highly original works are the culmination of a process he calls "Tradigital." Han believes his work can comfort people from the growing vices facing society. He is a walking, talking contradiction, yet he is also a hopeless believer. On the surface, his work appears cute, but seething just underneath are serious subjects like pain and addiction. Thomas' message of want, desire, addiction, and the curious world of exaggerated pop and color are all wrapped up into well-perfected imperfections of candy-coated pieces Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay") is a neologism for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. The word "giclée" is derived from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". It was coined in 1991 by Jack Duganne, a printmaker working in the field, to represent any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art. The intent of that name was to distinguish commonly known industrial "Iris proofs" from the type of fine art prints artists were producing on those same types of printers. The name was originally applied to fine art prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the early 1990s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print and is often used in galleries and print shops to denote such prints. Since October of 2004, Nucleus has strived to be a welcoming gathering place for the art loving community by offering quality art, art-related goods, and rarities. Focusing primarily on gallery exhibits, we have also had benefit auctions, product signings, music events, and artist lectures. After three and a half years, we moved one block east to a much larger and more dynamic space. Still in the heart of quaint downtown Alhambra, we re-opened in March of 2008 with over 2000 square feet of open gallery space, 1000 square feet of shop/boutique, and over 3000 square feet of studio/production space. Having exhibited both local artists and artists from abroad, and catering to an international customer base, we offer an extensive collection of original contemporary, illustrated, graphic, commercial, and narrative art - all of which are carefully catalogued on our website.