HCMC – Exhibition “Sole Imprint of a Wood Flux”

Exhibition: 29 Jan – 29 Jun 2015, 9 am – 9 pm
Phuong My Flagship Store

From the organizer:

Wood-flux – a wooden flow – seems to be a contradictory phrase for how can something as sturdy as wood also stream so fervently. Such a concept indeed recalls a Japanese genre of woodblock prints on silk and paper – ‘Ukiyo-e’ – meaning ‘pictures of the floating world’. Inspired by the caliber of Ukiyo-e woodblock and the textile pattern of PHUONG MY’s Spring Summer 2015 collection, artist Nguyễn Hữu Trâm Kha showcases various fascinations of a ‘Wood-flux’.

Both Trâm Kha and Phuong My love utilizing contrasts in subject, material, form, and composition. For example, Phuong My has a Japanese textile designer create delicate and feminine patterns; she then weaves them into particular rigid fabric to style powerful silhouettes. Meanwhile, Trâm Kha meticulously carves a wooden surface – a solid medium – to characterize flora and abstract creatures as if they are floating.

In the past, Ukiyo-e required collaboration between artist, engraver, printer, and publisher. In contemporary art and design, such collaboration still plays an important role. Trâm Kha designs the artwork for the carver who executes her drawings in these woodblock sculptures. The Japanese designer creates textile pattern inspired by Phuong My’s ideas of femininity and nature; and then Phuong My will utilize that print design across her whole subsequent collection. In this forthcoming collaboration between Phuong My and visual artist, Trâm Kha, the history of the ukiyo-e woodblock aligns harmoniously with Phuong My’s print textile. One unique woodblock can produce multiple prints, just as one unique textile pattern can be shaped into multiple garment pieces for a collection. This is an essential relation between originality and reproduction in art and fashion design.

The exhibition is curated by Arlette Quỳnh-Anh Trần.