KVT on Noella Roos at Bui Gallery

The Bui Gallery is such a gorgeous place.

Of a late afternoon the sun slants through the windows and makes everything glow in an almost ethereal light. Bui’s opening exhibition was a very collectable selection by local Vietnamese and Viet Kieu artists, beautifully curated. In the back of my mind I wondered what the spaces would look like if given over to one, fine artist. And now I know. Noella Roos’ energetic, gestural,  charcoal drawings on white paper flow effortlessly. It’s a very peaceful experience, being a viewer.

Noella draws naked dancers as they slowly move their bodies around her studio. She makes big sweeping stokes across the paper as she alludes to muscles that ripple and contract and skin that stretches tautly. At Bui large, elegantly framed nudes cavort, writhe and sinuously meander around the walls and projected on one wall is the dancer being drawn by the artist. Rather than having the video show vignettes of the artist’s practice I would have preferred to have had a continuous loop with just the nude moving. It would have been eloquent.

Noella’s technique is exciting and her results invariably superb. I would imagine that her paintings would be full of the same sensuous movement.

If I could draw like this artist I don’t think I would be able to bear to stop…all of the large white walls in my house would become dancing canvases.

This is a exhibition that most will love and for those who haven’t met Bui yet, this is the perfect opportunity to wander to Ngo Van So, that little byway that is rapidly becoming the crème de le crème of Hanoian streets. Give it a few spreading trees, block the traffic, set up a few outdoor cafes and you’d have a slice of Paris. Bui fits in well with its fuschia pink wall and hidden formal garden…. and Noella’s dancers are really at home.