KVT – KVT has a Taste of the Surreal in the Suburbs

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Nguyen Hong Son’s exhibition at Au Co Gallery is worth a visit. I’ve been twice.

The last time I saw his work was in 2009 in the same gallery. Then, his large paper and rock installation that met you as you entered was pretty good and gave you a bit of a pleasant jolt as you enjoyed the juxtaposition of the two materials. This time, as you enter you see a series of canvases done in Dali-esque style. They are also pretty good and if you are so inclined, you may want to investigate if there are any Freudian or Jungian meanings in them. Although I’m not a great fan of the surrealists post Dali and I can’t get into science fiction type stuff at all, I liked Son’s dreamscape titled ’24 Hours Floating’ and the vortexing ‘The World Not Flat’. 

But it was when I came to his piece titled ‘Hidden Language Fade Away’ that my eyes went into AH HA mode and my brain really started to engage.

The wrapped telephone comes from a previous exhibition of the same name and as you wander you come across more from the series. They take on an industrial realism, have small pieces of text embedded, and continue to play with elements of surprise, unexpected juxtaposition and non sequitur that are part of surrealism.

I had to pause for a long while and take in the cleverness and beauty of what I call the calming blues.

Then you’re into the current exhibition. It’s called “Soloist’ and all canvasses start to relate to a musical instrument (violin) or solo performance of it. Photo realism plays around with surrealism and 2D teases with 3D. Most viewers will fall for the two smaller canvasses of the blue and the white violins (as did a canny buyer with an eye for the unexpected).

Somehow when I ambled past the larger, related works that play delicious melodies with parts of the violin, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that the backdrop was a shipbuilding yard….though others may think steelworks or even a disused industrial factory. For me, the music was a Mozart violin sonata being rehearsed and gently rebounding from thick, steel plates.

Finally there’s the piece de resistance, the beautiful triptych on the end wall that has been drawing you closer to its candle fluttering, solo performance. You’ll probably feel like applauding.

I can’t help it, but whenever I go into that long, back gallery at Au Co I think that it may be just about the best art space in Hanoi. The gallery is a bit difficult to find but worth the search.

If you want to have another surreal experience in real life, then after you leave the gallery continue down the wide lane, cross over the next wide lane and search for a red brick wall a hundred meters or so ahead, on the left (go too far and you’re at a dead end). It’s Nghi Tam Garden. A very surreal and calm oasis in the heart of hyper-real suburbia. There’s a restaurant and attractive, grassed alfresco area, and even accommodation. Gorgeous really! Worth checking out!