”Contemporary Scenario” Woodcuts Exhibition

Opening: Sun 27 Nov, 5.30 pm
Exhibition: 27 Nov – 04 Dec 2011
Vietnam Fine Arts Museum

From Vietnam Fine Arts Museum:
Come to the first solo exhibition featuring traditional woodcut technique  focusing on Vietnamese peasant life today of graphic artist Pham Khac Quang. It is also an installation art piece  with one thousand (1,000) original woodcut portraits of Vietnamese peasants.

This exhibition consists of two parts. The first part includes ten (10) color woodcut prints created with woodcut block destruction technique (the woodcut block is destroyed after the last print). These graphic works express the artist’s thoughts on the multiple problems surfacing in rural life today. The artist represents Uncle Teu – the narrator in Vietnamese traditional water puppet performance – in contemporary life, giving him the leading role in many present-day stories. Uncle Teu can be a dealer, a businessman, important and satisfied with his lot. In another version, Uncle Teu is depicted as a peasant, humorous and delighted with his position in the community, working with his co-villagers to prepare the harvest, as well as relaxing with them in free time. However, this peasant has an alternative face, selling parts of the spiritual elements of his home village such as the banyan tree, the commune-house yard, and the village pond, at the village market. Does Uncle Teu’s innocent smile hide the sorrows caused by material pressures, or instead express his self-satisfaction? Subtly suggesting his leading protagonist’s multiple personalities, the artist uses the woodcut technique to carefully express his biting social messages.

The second part of this exhibition is an installation-art piece titled Breath. Presented in a 30m2 area reminiscent of a small rice field, the artist plants one thousand (1,000) original woodcut portraits of Vietnamese peasants among which female characters are the most visible unconsciously. The wood – blocks are wooden spatulas familiar in every home kitchen. The artist’s meticulous cut lines vividly express the Vietnamese peasant today. Despite the limited area, this work alludes to the issue of the future of Vietnam’s peasants in today’s rapidly changing society.

The two parts of this exhibition are complementary, both expressing the artist’s deep thoughts about the many changes occurring in his home village, a cradle of folk water puppetry in Hai Duong province. Similar shifts can also be observed in many of Vietnam’s villages, from the delta to the mountains. The exhibition also expresses the artist’s commitment to traditional woodcut art as an appropriate medium for the discussion of today’s living stories, effectively using  traditional modes of expression to breathe real life into contemporary art.

For further information, please contact: Dao Mai Trang (Ms.), email: [email protected]