WHAAM! presents Compartmentalization, the debut solo exhibition of New York-based multidisciplinary artist Nathalie Nguyen, on view April 17 through May 22, 2026, at 15 Elizabeth Street, New York. This first solo exhibition features six oil paintings and marks the first time Nguyen presents a focused body of paintings. 

Best known as the co-founder of the cult internet-born streetwear label Happy99, Nguyen has long maintained a multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, sculpture, toys, and fashion. Happy99 was founded in 2019 with Dominic Lopez and draws from a wide range of cultural references, from early internet and 90s-2000s imagery to underground rave culture and pop history, creating a blend of nostalgia, humor, and hyper-modernity. Operating independently from a storefront in New York, the brand has cultivated a devoted cross-generational following both online and offline, and serves as a natural extension of Nguyen’s broader creative vision.

Many of the paintings in the exhibition draw on her lifelong fascination with dolls, toys, and puppets. Shaped by childhood memory, internet ephemera, toy culture, and early digital communities, her work blends surreal hyper-stylized imagery with emotional and cultural undercurrents. Key works include a self-portrait painting inspired by the doll sculptor Gentaro Akari, a Hatsune Miku-inspired figure reflecting early fandom and digital creativity, and a shrine painting drawing on Vietnamese Buddhist traditions. While painting has been a consistent thread throughout her work, this is the first time she presents a dedicated, cohesive collection. Nguyen has maintained a private ritual of creating a painting each year on her birthday, previously shared online or kept for herself. This exhibition brings those personal works into public view for the first time, as well as new paintings, offering an intimate entry point into her practice. 

This exhibition positions Nguyen at the intersection of art, fashion, and digital culture, reflecting the ways independent artists navigate creative autonomy and cross-disciplinary practice. Through her paintings and the broader ecosystem of Happy99, Nguyen interrogates nostalgia, identity, and cultural memory, while maintaining the playful and immersive sensibility that extends across the full breadth of her work. 

About Nathalie Nguyen

Nathalie Ngyuen (b. Nice, France) is a multidisciplinary artist who works across painting, sculpture, toys, and fashion. Her paintings blend surreal, hyper-stylized imagery drawn from childhood memory, internet ephemera, and toy culture. She is also the co-founder of streetwear label Happy99, which operates as a storytelling platform and creative studio. This exhibition is her first solo show and marks the first time she presents a focused body on paintings. Nguyen lives and works in New York.