KVT – The Manzi / Work Room 4 Affordable Journal…Part One: Three Locals

KVT decides to break the laden walls at Manzi into a few opinion piece episodes to do it the justice it deserves

Affordable art exhibitions became the rage in Hanoi towards the end of last year and petered out with a deflated sigh after Tet. So when I saw that Manzi in cahoots with Workroom 4 were reviving the genre I was a little relieved that I was going to be off chasing a few body surfing waves and fresh seafood around Dong Hoi.

When I returned to a much cooler Hanoi after last Friday night’s thunderstorm I had people accosting me about the fabulous success at Manzi. An opening so crowded they said that you hardly had room to swing a manx cat by the tail. Patrons were cheek to jowl, they said, peering through other art lovers’ armpits and sometimes between party voyeurs’ legs to get a glimpse of the exceptional stuff on the walls and then rushing off to claim a bargain before some other fortunate scrambler beat them to it.

Armed with such graphic descriptions (plus more) of an art opening that actually SOLD good art, I had to bicycle along to Phan Huy Ich Street on Saturday afternoon to see if my informants were colloquially pulling my leg or not.

But they weren’t!

The place was still buzzing with people of all shapes and sizes and the walls, upstairs and downstairs, were alive with pieces of art work, exceptionally curated by the Manzi / Workroom 4 experts and framed –unless decided unnecessary- to uniformed perfection.

A couple of tables were loaded with work on paper in plastic envelopes and canny buyers realized that more than a few real bargains were hidden in the pile.

Naturally the bits and pieces that had the lowest prices (around $50) were snapped up the quickest and those that managed to get studies of plastic wrapped buildings under construction executed a few years ago by The Son were really fortunate

One of the main bug bears about the plethora of affordable art shows that buzzed around like a mosquito plague last year was that by the time you reached the ninety ninth one you kept on seeing repeats of the same type of work and you sort of got a bit bleary eyed and even a bit cynical with the dross that purled around the few gems that managed to sparkle.

But Manzi / Workroom 4 managed to 95% sidestep that dilemma- and so that they didn’t have a woozy tune from a ho hum waltz reverberating out the doors and down the street, they insisted that artists chosen to submit work should sensibly proffer recent stuff that was new to jaded eyes.

It was lucky that when I turned up on Saturday afternoon the battery in my camera decided to give a long sigh of expiration. Lucky because I had to go back to Manzi on Sunday morning to take images of the bits and pieces that I would have bought if my art collecting budget hadn’t avalanched onto a slope of sharp and rocky scree late last month. Lucky because I managed to consolidate the choices I’d already made about the art works that I would have grabbed sans avalanche and which will feature in upcoming chapters.

And the crowds, even at 10.30, were rolling in thru the doors. Many like me on a wistful, wishful thinking jaunt and others determined to get a little bit of Vietnam to hang on their walls. A couple were sensibly intent on beginning a real art collection and knew that if they managed to button-hole Bill that they’d get some ridgy-didge advice

Three Hanoi-artists almost stole the whole show and if someone hasn’t grabbed up the remaining pieces by Le Quy Tong then there’s something a bit off in the taste of real art connoisseurs

The hit of the show had to be the delicious print statement ‘Sept 2’ at a very sensible top price of $700 (apologies for image quality!)

And this series by the artist, almost hidden upstairs, is also tasty

For those with a yen to acquaint themselves with more of Tong’s work then there’s a smallish but exquisite painting of a room with staircase in the gift shop area-though it’s not part of the affordable show

Once my finances regain a balance then I’ll definitely avalanche them again by putting this artist in the upper echelons of my must have list. Rumor has it that there may be a solo of his work later this year and that will be worth waiting for.

Every time I go to take a photo of Nguyen Huy An’s hazy water pond and temple works, I never can get it right…but the very sensible buyer who grabbed hold of the piece badly photographed below has got another top of the pops. Expensive but deservedly so! It’s worth-while hopping along to Manzi to sip a cool drink (I thoroughly recommend the guava ) and meditate in front of this dreamy work, the colors of which echo the cool, green depths of the juice.

The works on paper by Nguyen Quang Huy are also a standout and if you manage to get one…such as the blue angel below…then to my mind you’ve made a wise art choice

OK…so being a teeny parochial I’ve seemed to have given top billing in episode one of my affordable Manzi journal to Hanoi-ans when in reality my tonsils gave several serious back flips when I came face to face with the work proffered by small contingent from the deep south

Tomorrow, THE SAIGON-ESE INVASION