KVT – The Plus Plus Side of a Jack Hammer
Earlier this year respected artist, Thanh Son Mai died and a whole row of shelves on level 2 is dedicated to her wonderful and delicate lacquer vessels. A great thrill to be amongst them. You can’t help but want to own the whole lot. Absolutely superb.
From the walls of Art Vietnam before it closed last year were several cool and crisp and whimsical canvasses by Nguyen The Hung, plus a few inviting tan and pastelly blue skyscapes that I’d spied in Ngo Quyen earlier this year.
Some lusciously familiar portraits by Vi Trinh caught my eye plus an intro to a delightful banana leaf with luscious legs.
Then there are the figurative canvasses by Ho that are wickedly reminiscent of those decadent yet pointedly satiric works by the German between-war painters whom Adolf hated so much and even managed to gas a couple of.
When I came across the bicycle print work by the marvelous Dung Xe Dap I thought for a moment that I was back in the old Maison Des Arts. This long piece by him is probably the best that I’ve seen…and I’ve seen loads and done a considerable lot of oohing and aahing over his bicycle parking lots.
Thank you for this expose on your discovery.
In a way what you describe is a form of “street art” — with its own local flavor — I would think.
And yes, one can not escape feeling curious in Hanoi: the sheer pleasure of letting your eyes “walk” on the objects, the scenery, the people & what they do — non stop bounty for the senses — somehow unexpected — in spite of its familiarity…