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Home and away: Artwork on display at the Viet Nam Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition has indoor and outdoor displays. — Photos Le Binh | |
HA NOI — Sculptures and installations by Vietnamese and foreign artists are being shown at the Viet Nam Museum of Fine Arts in Ha Noi.
The core of creativity of a group of Vietnamese artists, under the name 5Plus, has been joined by Belgium artists Paty Sonville and Fatima Talbaui, and Japanese- American Bart Uchida.
5Plus includes Le Thi Hien, Mai Thu Van, Khong Do Tuyen, Le Lang Luong, Tran Trong Tri and Nguyen Ngoc Lam
The group of nine sculptors have build a "house" together at the exhibition.
The international artists arrived at the beginning of March to operate a creative workshop as well as to explore Viet Nam.
In a studio in Gia Lam, Ha Noi, they worked together amid the background of Vietnamese culture.
"After talking we decided to follow a strict rule to use cubes, each size measuring 115cm, to develop our individual ideas," said Hien.
Uchida moulded his cubes to unveil a complicated structure questioning the human condition and his destiny in society. He used bamboo cubes with bonsai, crushed brick, sand, rope and other things to recreate an archaeological display in which nature and society are exposed.
"The uncertainty of natural and environmental disasters raises questions about what human beings can do as the world changes," he said.
The installation by Lam has a metal box with a small tree planted inside.
"My installation is inspired by a story of the love between a boy and a tree, which was so beautiful when he was young, innocent and pure," Lam said. "Time passes and the boy becomes a man with different needs, such that the love between the boy and the tree is turned into something mawkish and useless to him."
With female issues, it seems that the basics of the subject is considered more thoroughly through zigzag lines portrayed by Van. The fluctuation of human nature is seen in black and white.
The hollow blocks in the section of the exhibition by Hien were created by triangles. Hien has been known of using blocks and triangles in her artworks before.
She said blocks, triangles and space create clarity.
"Simplicity is the essential voice of the blocks but they also express the emptiness and solidity of the soul."
Fatima prefers the creation of movement, continuously, till it becomes a link of a chain which each individual of the group turned into.
Her sculpture, entitled Mother is Round, Child is Square, is made from painted welded steel.
She says she is inspired by the elements of daily life.
"The Vietnamese phrase ‘mother is round, child is square' and the tradition of putting string on the wrist of a child at birth gives a perfect union of body and mind."
Fatima also made a cube named Mother Earth in which there are nine square plates representing the nine artists participating in the project.
The exhibition is supported by the Viet Nam Association of Fine Arts and Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation.
"The artists do not only make a bridge but also build a house to link three continents," said Frank Pezza, head of the Wallonie Bruxelles delegation to Ha Noi.
"I highly appreciate their efforts to study Vietnamese traditional techniques, such as lacquer, and the use of Vietnamese materials to implement their own ideas," Pezza said.
The exhibition runs until Thursday at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ha Noi. — VNS