Artist Pham Tuan Tu is one of eight artists recently selected by the Denmark Cultural Development Exchange Fund for its Talent Prize 2010. Born in 1981, Tu is a graduate of the Ha Noi University of Industrial Fine Arts and is a member of the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association's Young Artist Club. Tu spoke to Culture Vulture about his first solo exhibition and about the theme of sexual ambiguity that appears in his work.
Why do you think your work was chosen?
I get feedback from viewers, and I think that they have strange feelings when they look at my paintings. They are curious to see something which rarely appears in painting.
Of the eight painters who won, I like the most the paintings by Nguyen Xuan Hoang. His ideas and forms of expression are very particular. He puts a prosaic object (a chair) in his works but shows its particular aesthetics.
Do you usually paint on the theme of homosexuality?
I paint homosexual subjects because it attracts me. It is one of many themes I want to touch upon. Contradiction between social preconception and instinct makes for a miserable fate, especially for homosexual people.
I think that sex cannot exist as an independent entity. It is a dependent factor and is governed not only by chromosomes but by many other factors like psychology, living environment, habit and nature.
When I began to know about homosexual people, I thought unconsciously about them and their lives. I don't know what urged me try to understand them.
I'm interested in many human interest subjects. In my latest painting, In Life, which will be displayed at the coming National Fine Arts Exhibition, I looked at enjoyment. In another painting, A Memorial Afternoon, which was exhibited by the Young Painters Club last June, I depicted death, or the different ways people die. Not a bodily death, but a mental death.
I have focused on many other subjects in my exhibition.
Do you know how the lesbian and gay community responds to your work?
I have received a lot of feedback from people who have seen the paintings. I think that they should not been seen negatively, but I don't mind. My works are my individual viewpoint. I don't impose my thoughts on theirs.
This is your first solo exhibition. How do you feel about it?
I usually participate in annual exhibitions by the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association, or in groups of independent artists. So this will be the first solo exhibition in my career. It will be a good chance for me to improve myself.
I have had to think a lot about it. I didn't have a specific theme. I want to present the contradictions in modern society. I want to comprehend my individual thoughts with a view to creating new works. I will try to fully express my ideas in various forms.
How long does it take you to complete a painting? Will you sell them?
I paint very quickly. The three paintings Gay, Uni-sex and Mud were made in 2008. The painting In Front of the Mirror, I painted this year. All are acrylic on canvas. Right after finishing them, I was very satisfied with them. But that was at that time.
All the paintings are for sale. — VNS