Vietnam Eye – Contemporary Vietnamese Art
Edited by Serenella Ciclitera
Wave this book in front of your family as Mother’s Day looms or buy it for yourself – anytime – if you are at all interested in art and history
I say ‘book’ but Vietnam Eye – Contemporary Vietnamese Art – is a reference work highlighting one of the most fascinating contemporary art scenes in an area that has known war, and radical change – from a closed door policy to an era of globalisation.
The book showcases the work of seventy-five outstanding contemporary Vietnamese artists working across a variety of established and new media, from painting to sculpture, from photography to video.
Some artists’ work I didn’t like, but explored with interest, others, in particular, gave me pause for thought in this complex world.
A Partition of Chance by Tran Trong Vu as shown is interesting. Tran Trong Vu does not create paintings to be an end in themselves but as a means to seek his place as an artist outside the contemporary artist system. For me, it is a painting of stillness and repetition into which one can import one’s own theme.
Nguyen Trong Minh reflects the artist’s disappointment with the education system of his time, in which any deviation marked one as an outsider. The very stillness of the images, the rigidity, is thought provoking. I have just reviewed The Outsider, Frederick Forsyth’s memoir, and his life as an outsider was different: joyous, creative.
This work of Nguyen Trong Minh’s is equally creative, but internalised. For Minh the world needs to be paused, clarified in black and white, distilled. But into what: into work that gives him the ability to respond to life effectively. It made me want to see some of them in the ‘flesh’ but perhaps I can:
Vietnam Eye is published in anticipation of a major exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery in September 2017 so we must find the time to visit, having perused the catalogue.
Serenella Ciclitira has an honours degree in art history from Trinity College, Dublin and has worked extensively with artists and galleries throughout the world. Along with her husband David Ciclitira, she is the co-founder of Korean Eye and a member of its curatorial board.
Vietnam Art – contemporary Vietnamese art: pb £38.00 (amazon.co.uk)