KVT’s Post Tet Titilations… Exploding into Spring @ L’Espace

Nguyen The Hung in shades of green and showers of flowers

In my humble opinion just about everyone who wanders into L’Espace will be titillated in some way or another by the paintings that shimmer from the walls. Some will be so visually pleasured that they’ll spend a fair bit of time investigating the intricacies of flow and design that are part and parcel of this artist’s work

The first time I encountered the collages of Nguyen The Hung, years ago, I was struck by his extraordinary use of jade green and in this exhibition on Dó paper glued on fabric and on canvas it is one highlights

The works come from series titled ‘And the flowers fell from the sky’, ’Little Flowers’, ‘Lazy days’, and Flowers Showered and date from 2008 to the present

ALL IN ALL IT’S A WONDERFUL SHOW!

The artist has called this leap into Spring ‘POLYHEDRA’ which I like to translate as a phenomenon of which everyone sees a special side.

Nguyen Hung’s early works, lush with shades of green (mau xanh – a Vietnamese collective noun for all greens and blues) always make me ponder about the not so far removed olden days when Vietnam was a truly rural, green smothered culture – when cities were like minor pimples on a water buffalo’s rear end… Pondering if Vietnamese folk had as many words for green as Eskimos once had for snow?

And of course they did

And the myriad shades of mau xanh indelibly infiltrate the planes of this artist’s Polyhedra

The Polyhedra works are distinctive with their incredibly dotty backgrounds – in shades of green – and you may be excused for uttering the loaded word pointillism. But the delightful play of of dots is said to represent fertile seeds ready to germinate, flourish and flower.

Those sharing my titillation trigger you may become a bit dot besotted and follow their bucolic dances

Oft times when I look at many of the artist’s works I can’t help but think of Gustav Klimt and this early work (not in the exhibition) could be suggested to have a Klimt reference

It’s this special Klimptishness that makes many of the POLYHEDRA sing so joyously – and some viewers may even suggest that they contain a Klimptish erotisism – and definitely that fecundity we associate with spring and summer in romantic pastoral idylls.

Viewers wishing a less secular hook upon which to hang their titillation will enjoy the artist’s references to Zen Buddhism

‘Inspired by Buddhism and meditation of nature, Nguyen Hung The wants to discover, dig deep into the life on earth to find seeds of love and hope, just waiting to sprout.’ (this exhibition)

‘Inspired by Zen Buddhist philosophy, Hung takes the title for his collection from the Indian guru Osho’s book of Zen discourses “And The Flowers Showered”. In what he calls “ephemeral carpets”, Hung’s paintings are awash in cut-out Sala flowers which are representative in Buddhist philosophy of those who have achieved enlightenment. With many of his flowers containing images from urban and pop culture taken from fashion and lifestyle magazines, Hung uses his flowers as symbols for all that is beautiful in life.’ (Craig Thomas)

If you are in analytical mode you’ll appreciate this piece from an exhibition at Craig Thomas:
‘Hung draws influences for his work from diverse sources that include Hang Trong “Tet” paintings from Hanoi and the ritual Tho paintings of the Dao minority of Vietnam’s northern mountains from which he himself originates. The paintings of And Flowers Showered also manifest a deep Daoist emphasis on the profound intimacy and communion between humanity and nature that is strongly reminiscent of East Asian landscape painting.’

The PR blurb from the present show also indicates that many of his characters are: ‘dressed in brocade similar to those of the Thai ethnic group, held in majesty in a world filled with myriads of small vegetable seeds.’

For the those wanting more info and images about Nguyen The Hung and his flowery works click here and for those wondering about his other series check here with one example below:

FINAL NOTE:
IF YOU WANT A RATHER GLORIOUS BURST OF SPRING BUT CANT GET INTO THE MOUNTAINS TO SEE THE PLUM TREES IN FULL BLOOM THEN THIS EXHIBITION COULD SALVE YOUR SOUL VERY NICELY INDEED.