Ilza Burchett – The Essence of Things…
On the other hand the originality of Vietnam’s traditional wood carving is brought to the forefront of the artist’s expression by his extraordinary artistic sensibility towards the medium. Through his handling of the wood we can understand his direct connection to the land and nature, and appreciate the dept of his aesthetic values.
These sculptures are static with a movement that is eternally frozen inside, timeless, unchanging, totem-like, like the forever present features of his homeland’s scape. They determine themselves as forms in relation to the contours of the land with its mountains, ravines, valleys, rivers and its people, simply because they embody them trough the artist’s vision.
These works are not concerned with contemporaneous explanatory or illustrative representation nor with a personalized individualism.
They are representing the universal through a profound understanding of the unique connection of Vietnam’s landscape to its people and as part of the earth’s landscape and make up of humanity as a whole, to which Nguyen Nhu Y has given a definitive form of expression in his art.
It is as if the artist chiseled out not just matter but time itself to reach for this timelessness, for this essential universality, for this which is ever-present, for the very essence that defines his being.
With his sculptures, as it were, he answers the question he poses to himself: “What is the truth in my art?” the truth of his belonging to his land and his nation, which is inscribed in his very being and work.
The artist Nguyen Nhu Y does not simply describe, but reveals and holds like in a time-capsule the essence of his ultimate love — his country and its soul…. and it seems that he knows he will always have his catch of fish in the rice fields, because the bounty of his land is plentiful and as he does stand by its soul, so it does stand by him.
His art is an allegory of no sentiment or poetry, but a silent inner knowledge born of profound love and expressed in his intimate vision of his motherland and its people.
It is direct and simple, but at the same time complex and powerful in its primordial modernity.
A tour de force — this art is significant because it is based on the fundamental idea of ‘truth’ without which no art is possible.
Exhibition PORTRAIT OF VIETNAM by Nguyen Nhu Y now on show at Viet Art Center.
| Ilza holds the deep conviction that there is nothing more damaging than indifference and that only a critique, based on peer to peer assessment of contemporary art practices, is the way to broaden and encourage the creative thought and new original artistic ideas — fostering a better understanding of contemporary visual art and the role of the artist as a creator of cultural values. Ilza Burchett is an internationally exhibiting artist, now based in Hanoi, Vietnam. |
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