KVT – A Touch of Paradise at Goethe

KVT – A Touch of Paradise at Goethe

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The MUST SEE art exhibition

Sometimes, you come across an art exhibition that makes you want to rush out and tell everyone to go and see it.

And such a one is installed at Goethe….sensibly it’s on for a month until the end of April and from 9 am to 9 pm every day.

Artist Nguyen Manh Hung has created an immense diorama that is a must see! It sets the standard for 2011 that all other artists exhibiting this year have to aspire towards….though I doubt if any will come close to beating it.
Don’t be afraid! It’s totally user friendly. Parents take your school-age+ kids along because it’s a perfectly painless but fabulous introduction to art appreciation (both sexes). Adult males who think art is a bit too sissy for them to go anywhere near will be totally impressed. Females of all ages who ever owned or wanted to own a doll house will be overawed and envious. Anyone who has ever stood entranced in front of a diorama display at a museum of natural history will be entranced again….even more so. The rest of you will stand and stare and be immersed in its WOW factor.

When you enter the gallery you see steps leading up to a viewing platform and a tantalizing view of a tower and a deep blue sky spun with cirrus clouds. And this is the only image I’ll show you as I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you.

Nguyen Manh Hung - Diorama

Then you ascend and look down into the 3D diorama and you can’t help but fall in love.

I was so impressed when I first saw it that I immediately ask Hung for an interview … that will be published on the Grapevine next week.

Descend the viewing platform and you can watch a video about how the tower was constructed and everyone who has ever glued bits together to make a model car, plane, model railway, farmyard, doll house; anyone who has ever painstakingly made or painted miniature objects and details for those things; and just about anyone else will be totally absorbed.

The diorama is titled ‘Living Together in Paradise’ and those of you who like to tease out stories will really enjoy themselves. Those who want to hear Hung’s explanation of his work can attend his artist talk on the 15th April, 6pm at Goethe. He’s one of Vietnam’s best established artists (he’s in his mid thirties) and he has a good international reputation for his works on canvas and the central tower in this work has received critical acclaim in Oslo and Berlin.

If anyone was going to put out a book titled ‘1001 Art Exhibits You Should Have Seen In Vietnam’ then Hung’s bit of paradise would be up there with the best of them.

Hung is the curator at Hanoi’s only cutting edge art space, Nha San, and about the same time last year he was instrumental in getting together an immensley beautiful piece by Le Huy Hoang, called “Rain’, which received my similar entreaties for audiences to go and see.

Really I haven’t told you much about the art work at all because I think you should (rather, must) go along to see it with a clear mind, as I did, and be prepared to be blown away!

I’m a HUGE fan of Hung’s work and if you want to see why visit his website. You might even visit Art Vietnam and ask them to show you the samples of his work in their stock room.

The 2011 art year has really got into top gear at last ………………………and Goethe is at 56 -58 Nguyen Thai Hoc.

Not a reviewer, not a critic, “Kiếm Văn Tìm” is an interested, impartial and informed observer and connoisseur of the Hanoi art scene who offers highly opinionated remarks and is part of the long and venerable tradition of anonymous correspondents. Please add your thoughts in the comment field below.

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