Ilza Burchett – The Meaning of Words in Visual Art : “Soil” by Artist Tran Anh Son
” There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown and those who do not see.”
Leonardo da Vinci
“Soil” is the title of the exhibition of paintings and sculpture by the artist Tran Anh Son, now on view at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts.
On visiting the exhibition the viewer is presented with an arrangement of similar sized large format (oil) paintings and a selection of lacquered & (sometimes) gold-leafed sculptural objects, which seemingly abide to a generic form/mold.
The manner of presentation of works would not have been so important or telling on its own, as most of the paintings are named (numbered) “Untitled” and most of the sculptural objects are titled (numbered) “Portrait”.
This disposition to name the works generically seems to fit the idea of projecting a sense of detachment and disassociation by the artist with the actual subject matter, who it seems has engaged his works in a critique of certain perceived societal characteristics he notes and portrays as he sees them.
His headless draped upper busts “Portrait” (#) have the smooth finish of lacquered vases in a tourist shop, spare the fine coloring and the clunky 24 carat gold leaf application.
His paintings are devoid of any painterly sensibility, but intent on codded message delivery to the ones that would be able to decode them and read the (‘double happiness’) sign present in almost every work.
These works reek of ironic arrogance — playing with ambiguity — using the ambiguities of the multiple meanings of words.
So, looking at this show one may ask oneself: where is the dearly precious, the wonderfully generous, productive, honest soil we walk on, feed from and return to?
‘Soil’ in both, Vietnamese and English languages has many diverse meanings and sub-meanings and connotations — one only needs to consult the dictionary and then one can perhaps decode the underlying intentions of the artist, which meanings are visually projected in his works — now on show …
” There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown and those who do not see.”
Leonardo da Vinci
| Ilza holds the deep conviction that there is nothing more damaging than indifference and that only a critique, based on peer to peer assessment of contemporary art practices, is the way to broaden and encourage the creative thought and new original artistic ideas — fostering a better understanding of contemporary visual art and the role of the artist as a creator of cultural values. Ilza Burchett is an internationally exhibiting artist, now based in Hanoi, Vietnam. |
