KVT visits and revisits the Corazon show

Thanks heaps Embassy of Spain. You’re gorgeous.

Anyone with artistic ability or pretension would have to be seriously up themselves if they haven’t taken the time to see the wonderful Alberto Corazon exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts, and if they only went at the opening and haven’t been back since to savor it mot minh then they’d have to be poseurs. One can understand the glitterati rushing along to openings be seen and culturally adored and the free loaders intent on sipping a glass, or two, or five while they give it all a passing glimpse, but for an artist, a curator or a serious cultural devotee not to linger a time or two more (especially as it’s all for free) is totally remiss.

Can one take a long bow and draw parallels between Corazon, his work, this exhibition and the art scene in Vietnam? Like Corozon, some of our more promising young, local artists have a background in graphic design and a few have used this to push the boundaries of their art towards intellectual abstractionism or polemic representation. We can see that some exciting, local artists have their philosophies drawing inspiration from the conceptual movement that reached its pinnacle between the mid 60’s and 70’s and of which a young Corazon was an integral part. Corazon was lucky to be in the forefront of a new renaissance in Spanish cultural life in the mid seventies, post Franco, when modernism, experimentation and innovation in art was permitted to fly to dizzying heights , and when Spain and Picasso’s Geurnica were symbolically reunited.

At the Museum, Corazon’s work has been as effectively displayed as is possible. There’s no sense of crowding, the pieces breathe freely and the wall pieces are simply framed. The sculptural work is incredibly beautiful and thought provoking. The lead draped Poet’s House and the totemic Place for Paying Taxes make you realize why so many of his works are on permanent display in Madrid and throughout Spain.

The paintings represent Corazon’s output through the nineties to the present. I am intrigued with his still life series represented here by Still Life with Lattice where the forms have an intended Matissean cut out feel to them. I would pay heaps to see a gallery full of works in the same vein as the haunting Listen to the Tide. His oils on wood that, like so much of his work, abound in iconography, are sparse but intense. The oils on paper are tantalizing and fill any artistic eye with awe. The use of grids, a familiar construct toVietnamese artists, in many of the works reference the artist’s graphic art foundations.

It is easy to see why the promos for the exhibition feature that hand. As Corozon states, when he is drawing he is thinking. It’s his gestural way of thinking and it undscores the intellectualism of Corazon’s work. Corazon is first and foremost an intellectual practitioner and it’s this that makes the exhibition a must see for all good artists. It would be exciting if a few more of the plethora of young hopefuls around could expand their practice from the making into the reasoning.

The exhibition completely envelopes and intellectually (to use that dread word again) engages you when you’re lucky enough to be alone within it. It’s not the most exciting or the most exuberant exhibition I’ve seen in Hanoi but it’s certainly one of the very worthwhile, very satisfying, seductive and emblematic.

Thanks heaps Embassy of Spain. And yes, please, lots more!

Speaking of seductive, try to get a peek at the outstanding book that complements the exhibition. If I could get my hands on one for keeps I’d be over the moon. It matters not a bit that its text is mostly in Spanish. For English speakers there are excellent essays towards the end….sometimes intellectually (again!) obtuse, but very valuable for art historians.

Until 15 May.