KVT – Mountains or Zen

Occasionally some alternative little art spaces open up, show some really excellent stuff…. plus occasional really bad stuff…and then usually fold up and expire. These spaces are really essential for the young and the untested and the non-commercial artists to strut their stuff.

Some of the places manage to hang on and become cult spaces….look at Nha San… and even, like Salon Natasha, become bywords for some of the best art on offer. Some become part of the establishment and just pretend to be avante garde.
Due to lazy lounging on Con Dao island I missed what looked like a great show at the tin shed OM studio way out over the Duong River in Gia Lam last month …but I hope they have another.

Last weekend I discovered a delightful little grunge/bohemian type place called Chaap Art. It’s not too far out of your way and easy to find if you follow directions to Duong De Quai which is separated from the Red River and the floating ceramic village by fields of waving corn.

Artist Viriginie Faivre d’Arcier has set up a rather gorgeous little installation of her print work there. Called ‘Mountain’ it consists of printed fabric pillows set out in groups that, for me, from a standing position, resemble an aerial view of some of the limestone karst mountains that spread across parts of the North Vietnamese landscape. When I got down to eye level, the visual effect was really nice.

I’ve been a fan of this artist’s work ever since I saw her delicate prints at a group show at L’Espace a couple of years ago. It usually seems to have a topographical theme. And this theme is accentuated at Chaap with white cord contour lines.

As the artist’s blurb states, you can see the forms as a mountain landscape, as I immediately did, or as others with Zen inspired imaginations will do, as forms in a peaceful Zen garden. The installation’s bamboo mat floor suggests the Zen as does the music that was playing in the background. Either viewpoint enhances the installation’s visual poetry. In fact, just about each grouping could be its own haiku.

It is interesting to see the artist’s departure from a 2D format to the three dimensional and the concept works nicely.

The exhibition is brief and ends on June 22.