KVT – Not Memory

I really like Ha Manh Thang’s Not Memory at the Bui Gallery
At first I was drawn to the little emperor canvasses. Perhaps that was because they are reminiscent of the super successful Bride and Groom collage paintings that are synonymous with his name. The longer I looked the more I became drawn into the others with my favorite being the two paneled together in the upstairs corridor.

The haziness in the work and the thinness of the paint gives it an indeterminate look and a few commentators have seen this as a weakness whereas I see it as its great strength. Thang can be seen as a social historian peering through the mists of collected memory – romantic, real and constructed – that define his country’s changing cultural landscape. In this landscape the familiar icons – heroic, turbulent and mythological – are being swept hither and yon by a populous determined to push into a future ionized by globally recognized and commercially manufactured constructs.

The work cries out for interpretations. Any viewer with a grasp of Vietnamese history and cultural iconography, and a shred of imagination, can’t help but want to tease out the delicious threads that Thang weaves into his narratives. For example I see the orange mistiness as almost an agent orange warping of a history of collected memories. It contorts well known and often deified memory supports such as American war warriors into converts, even addicts, to advertised paraphernalia. A friend saw it as blood and that adds even more grist to the mill of interpretation. An interesting thesis could be written about it all.

The Japanese imagery and iconography- ranging from the Hokassi waves that sweep through many canvasses and surge at the roots of historical symbols, to the stylized clouds and sunset rays, to the modern manga cult figures -might be Thang pointing out that Vietnam’s journey into the future is paralleling that of Japan, albeit a few decades later. Its adoption of fictitious super heroes and imposing these with and over its recent flesh and blood warrior heroes is perhaps a signal of globalization beginning to reign as supreme as imported super brands (represented by Thang as Louis Vuitton icons) are raining from the clouds and oozing old memories into the muddied swamps of past time from whence they’ll only be able to emerge with radically changed meaning and purpose.

I don’t feel that Thang is being judgmental, satirical or preachy. It’s as if he’s an intelligent observer painting very pertinent observations of change and memories that are inexorably ghosting and morphing. He looks lovingly, sometimes longingly, at icons that punctuated the past while realizing that it’s the future that matters most to those living in this minute of time that is the present. Perhaps he is stating all icons are like Ozymandias and have to be irrevocably consigned to the enveloping sands of time… (the future archeological excavation of these ruins will ascribe them even more fabulous fantasies)

It’s a powerful exhibition and though, like others, I find it unsettling, I believe that it’s that element that gives it real punch.

It’s one of those exhibitions that is a must see for anyone wanting to have a glimpse at new and future directions that many intelligent young Vietnamese artists will probably pursue. It won’t be the most popular painting exhibition of the year but it will take an awful lot to put it in second place.

The gallery blurbs have loaded the work with modern art history terms like pop art which I think don’t fit at all. Others have attempted to approximate his work with Chinese artists such as Yue Minjun and Wang Guangyi amongst others. I would say that such comparison is more apt to other Vietnamese artists working in the satirical/ironical/social comment vein. I think Thang is a unique talent

The Bui, as usual, has mounted a courageous and very worthwhile show and my only (and usual) negative comment about this excellent place is about the way they clog up gallery spaces with desks, and staff who get in the way of viewing and personal musing. And I’d leave the ceramic stools in the storage cupboard for the duration of Thang’s exhibition as I feel they detract from the impact

Try to get a copy of Thang’s personal text about his exhibition. It makes worthwhile and thoughtful reading.