KVT – COLLAGE and COMMENT
KVT yet again visits the Young Artists’ Club
The Young Artists’ Club has mounted a group exhibition by a few of its members on the second floor at 16 Ngo Quyen. Unlike a few past exhibitions it doesn’t try to overwhelm you with volume.
Must be a difficult decision to have your work hung in a select grouping like this. Your work is mulled over and heavily criticized by other members and former members of the YAC and as it’s probably not viewed by a purchasing public, the selectees’ dilemma on what or what not to exhibit must cause a few migraine type moments.
It’s not one of those exhibitions in which something grabs your attention and shouts..hey! Look at me I’m fabulous! In many ways it’s fairly subdued and doesn’t break new ground. Most of the artists are in their early thirties and a couple are verging on the not young any more stage. Some are pretty well known. I have no idea as to criteria for selection in the show but this year someone up top must have liked collage and mixed media.
Collage is a major feature of Nguyen Duc Hung’s ‘Dream’ and its fussiness is saved by its size. It’s an easy piece to read and its allusions to middle class market economy aspirations have been repeated a fair bit in previous years. However it’s a lot of fun and all those eyes are a bit of a freak out.
Hung’s second piece is almost a throwback to a bygone era and, though whimsical, was a bit too heavy for me.
Nguyen The Hung used collage in his five piece ‘A New Lotus for Each Day’ which is appealing and seems to be commenting on historical aspects of voyeurism and exploitation of Vietnamese women….(a few feminist comments are needed to balance all this!). It dips its hat to the surreal.
Ngo Van Sac has two wood engravings (both in diptych format) with collaged backgrounds of old black and white (newspaper?) photographs. Called ‘Self Portrait in the Future’ the format may suggest a struggle with identity or a struggle to come to terms with societal expectations. They were just about the best work in the gallery.
