KVT – Amidst the Oxen Herds

There are lots of readings one can make of the work and it’s their darting possibilities that made my level of viewing pleasure rise a few degrees …a few interpretations are definitely censorable but local viewers will engage those with a few guffaws of recognition and agreement.

Dung probably hopes that the viewer will recognize his visual comments on filial piety, and other masculine constructs set in concrete in Confucian hierarchies and male dominated institutions; rampant nepotism; conformity…conformity…conformity; sneaky competitiveness; climbing that ever important ladder; back stabbing; the accepted rituals around being in love; the rituals of goverance …or whatever other connotations you want to throw around ( As I’ve said so often …it amazes me that more groups like those ubiquitous book clubs that sprout up like exotic weeds after spring rain don’t take the occasional opportunity to get to see a few of these nicely provocative shows and use them as springboards for discussion. This one is fertile with ideas.)

Anyone from any modern society or cultural group should be able to transpose Dung’s conclusions and pictures to fit their own experiential backgrounds. The canvass of the conformist creatures kneeling for slaughter – or sacrifice – is a great comment piece.



The paintings are well labeled in English and Vietnamese.