Ilza Burchett – On the Subject of Femina…

Currently on show at the Goethe Institut is the exhibition “Venus in Vietnam” of works by Vu Dan Tan and Nguyen Nghia Cuong — two artists of different generations with focus in their art on the same subject — femina.

The curatorial presentation of the works of both artists is arranged in a way of an overall installation, extending these artists’ individual multi-dimensional approach to their chosen medium further into an interaction between the art-objects themselves and also as an extension of thought through time from one artist’s thinking to another, forming a continuous narrative.

Stepping into this sophisticated and complex space — however minimal and formally restrained — one’s senses cannot escape the assault of the explosion of form and color, the bombardment of layered references, messages and inferences contained in the works, demanding viewer’s attention and asking for their judgment.

Apart from the focus on the same subject, it seems that the works by both artists relate through the sense of liveliness, energy and rhythm of thought in the handling of their signature medium — paper and various commercial packaging in the form of cardboard boxes.

These relations offer different dynamics of perception of their individual artistic sensibilities — it creates a parallax.

For the viewer, the navigation through artistic expression — from one art object to another, or from one group of objects to another, or from one of the artists’ expression to the other — evolves from purely physical to a mental state and space.

The dominant presence of the physicality of this art feeding on the unquestioning presence of the physicality of the female body and its form, on the overarching power of the femina,slides the viewer into a perceptual gap in deciphering of the actual or implied meaning of the images and art objects as signs and artistic statements.

Depending on the interstitial spaces one as a viewer wishes and chooses or not to occupy in one’s encounter with the subject of this exhibition, the mood can shift from joy, humor and happiness to darkness and despair, where strength tips into violence and love replaced with pity; where celebration of beauty acquires questioning undertones.

This art is expressive of the contemporary paradox of love, desire and use of the sacred space of femina and femininity viewed from these artists’ masculine moral perspective — where irony turns on itself and the art images of women on discarded commercial packaging can be very well interpreted as images of objectification of women by the artists themselves.

The problematization of “Venus” is a modern affair, where the sacred space of femina and femininity – the female sexuality — is used as a socio-political and cultural battleground.

This exhibition provides a closer look from the position of the masculine parallax of the notions about the female principle in contemporary Vietnamese life and art, but it throws the reflection of the challenges it faced back onto the world that produced it — a true mirror of our postmodern contemporary thought process.

It is accompanied by an immaculate art-object-like catalog, courtesy of the Goethe Institut, Hanoi.