Talk with Senior Curator Tran Luong at Singapore Biennale 2013

Nguyen Oanh Phi Phi
Born in 1979, Houston, Texas, USA, Nguyen Oanh Phi Phi lives and works between Vietnam and Madrid and utilizes Vietnamese lacquer as a painting medium to convey concepts of memory and reflexivity. Phi Phi Oanh received her BFA at Parsons School of Design (2002) and an MFA at the University of Madrid Complutense (2012). In 2004, she received a Fulbright Grant to study lacquer painting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Specula, 2009
Vietnamese lacquer is a medium which embodies Vietnam’s complex history, a multi-layered creation process and the limitless potential for representation due to its rich materiality. Specula is Latin for “mirror” and this work serves as a mirror through which the artist examines her transnational identity as a Viet Kieu (a Vietnamese living abroad): she gazes upon herself as Vietnamese and sees her reflection as an American. Specula functions as a ritualistic space where temporal planes coincide to create a liminal space of duality and otherness. The tension between the hermetic form of the exterior and the highly ritualistic interior of the work calls attention to a physical space that shapes, through illusion and shadows, the way we relate to our own image and identity.

In 8Q, SAM, second floor, you can watch the video performance by Le Brothers, and the installation of Nguyen Huy An. On the top floor is the art work of Nguyen Thi Hoai Tho.

Nguyen Huy An
Born in 1982, Vietnam, Nguyen Huy An seeks to make connections between pessimistic psyches of human behaviour and the psychology that induces an obsession with memory. Selected exhibitions include ‘Skylines with Flying People’, Hanoi, Vietnam (2012); ‘LIMDIM’, Oslo, Norway (2009) and “Sneaky Week Festival Performance”, Hanoi, Vietnam (2007).
You might find the art work very familiar as it has been exhibited in “Tam Ta” in Bui gallery as well as many events over the world.

The deep black abyss of Chinese ink and its hypnotic scent immediately conjure notions of a literary history rich in tradition and culture. In The Great Puddle however, this rich and illustrious history is interrogated and the ink’s reflective surface reveals as much as it obscures. Its opaque darkness also hints at hidden secrets lurking beyond the dark corners of the pool. The artwork is a commentary on the lingering scent of power and corruption, as metaphorically represented by the form of a bureaucrat’s writing table. While the ink attempts to conceal the ‘shadow’ of dirty dealings, its reflective surface ironically reflects reality and becomes, in and of itself, a permanent black shadow in which all forgotten events resurface.

(Nguyen Huy An’s paintings are presented in the upcoming Grapevine Selection art exhibition)

Le Brothers

Le Brothers (Le Thanh Hai and Le Ngoc Thanh) born in 1975 in Bình Trị Thiên, Vietnam, are twin brothers whose work dissect and question the post-war consciousness of North and South Vietnam. Selected projects include ‘The Bridge II’, performance at DMZ Gang Hwa, Korea (2012), ‘Before ‘86’, Cheongju Complex Cultural Center, Korea (2012) and ‘Communicate with me’, Saigon Open City, Vietnam (2006).

Into the Sea, 2011
This work was inspired when the artists revisited their birthplace in Bình Tri Thiên and attempted to trace the landscape of their childhood memories. The Nhat Le River runs through Bình Tri Thiên and witnessed several wars involving the Kingdom of Champa and the Vietnamese dynasties of Trinh and Nguyen. Thanh and Hai chose to set their video at the river, echoing their concerns about the never-ending ‘war’ between Hanoi and Saigon. Into the Sea engages Vietnam’s warring histories like a mirror of many mirrors. This is most obvious when one reads the actions of the twin brothers, who in the video wrestle on a fishing boat, bind each other treacherously with red fabric, and at moments, traverse the landscape as if resigned to ill fate.

And don’t miss a very interesting installation by a young female Vietnamese artist on the top floor – Nguyen Hoai Tho with “The Loofah Trellis”.

Nguyen Thi Hoai Tho
Born in 1983, Nguyen Thi Hoai Tho is a founding member of CHAAP collective which features the works of young experimental artists in Hanoi. Central to the artist’s practice is an interrogation of the female body and form in the context of patriarchal societies. Selected exhibitions include ‘Phap Phong’, Goethe Institut, Hanoi (2011).

Read more about Nguyen Thi Hoai Tho’s “Loofah Trellis” and more Vietnamese artists at the Singapore Biennale.