Ilza Burchett – The Essence of Things…
(Shortened Vietnamese version available)
Ilza reviews the exhibition PORTRAIT OF VIETNAM by artist Nguyen Nhu Y which opened last week at Viet Art Center.
Articulating feelings through which we relate to our world is the domain of music.
Putting pent-up knowledge into words is the domain of philosophy, literature and poetry, but…
Only when we are silent we have nothing else left but visualized imagery to express all of that together…
“The artist should know how to dig out the being that is within matter.”
“What is real is not the appearance, but the idea, the essence of things.”
Constantin Brancusi
Deep cuts in a piece of wood…
Hard simplicity chiseled out…
Hacked out forms…
Forms of raw essence…
Forms that shape a certain specificity.
Forms that shape and define specific characteristics in their compounded complexity.
The deep cuts in a piece of wood become art which delineates the topography of the human soul in a simple, raw, straightforward, but all-knowing, precise and determined way. Its presence is revealed by the sculptor by reduction and elimination of the matter at hand: the artist is digging out the being that is within it, and that is why his vision and his actions are uncompromisingly clear and declaratory.
To see the exhibition of sculptures by Nguyen Nhu Y is to encounter the very soul of Vietnam through art which digs deep and goes straight to the core of its subject with no fear, no reservations, but only pure and unconditional love for the country to which it belongs.
It is as if the geography of the country and the land the artist belongs to, becomes a geography of the human body and soul that spring from, are shaped by and forever belong to their source. The artist is the beholder of this simple truth and his works become an expression of it.
Though firmly rooted in Vietnam’s cultural traditions of wood carving, the sculptural forms created by Nguyen Nhu Y acquire a life of their own, anew and outside any explanatory or traditional context.
They become a statement: a statement of being, a statement of existence, a statement of fact.
Excellent review that reveals the primitive soul of the work, unadorned and natural. This exhibiton was a thrill to see, and I hope all of the artistic community of Vietnam encourages Y to do more.
Bravo to all the astute collectors especially Pham Duc Si who organized this exhibition. It was really a thrill to see some of these works I had never seen before.
Thank you Suzanne.
Artist Y’s work deserves the highest esteem.
(…and I have no doubt that he will impress us all again one day by actually catching his coveted ‘half fish-half man’ in the rice fields of his village…)
Hi Ilza
Agree whole heartedly…excellent show and definitely a highlight of the year
I also liked the fired clay figures and the series of drawings in the long frame. Prices were astoundingly reasonable too
The catalogue was beautifully presented and a steal at 150 000 VND and is one that will sit dust free on my shelves for a long time
The curator/s must be congratulated for an exhibition that was a pure pleasure to be within and for making sure that the venue was sparklingly clean…brilliant art work deserves nothing less