KVT – Celebrating Dao Anh Khanh Cerise

KVT gets another hugely enjoyable dose of art and showmanship from the maestro himself

If you want to be surrounded with sinuously, sensuously addictive lines that usually personify in abstracted female forms then it’s off to the free galleries at the Art Museum you go.

If you love being surrounded with deep metallic cerise on silver plus all of the above then your visit will be a great joy

In fact the two galleries are the most joyful and welcoming I’ve ever seen in a decade…. in fact Dao Anh Khanh’s curating of his work on canvas, wood, and paper has created an often heart-bumpingly attractive and even breathtaking exhibition

Apparently Dao Anh Khanh didn’t start to experiment with his version of cerise until this year and If he keeps on going I think that he’ll have a color that immediately identifies him- just as Yves Klein is identified by his passion for a particular cobalt blue (click here to see KLEIN BLUE)

Dao Anh Khanh Cerise hits you for six as soon as you start to enter the gallery and have to circumnavigate a particularly stunning lacquer screen

The reverse of the above is a grand contrast with a particularly grabbing lime cum acid green that makes the cerise garment of the female figure shine like a metallic jewel

Like all of Dao Anh Khanh’s cerise tinged pieces there is room for the viewer to pursue their own preferred narrative in the midst of their surreal and flowing scapes

Now for a look at the first gallery with its cerise and sinuous ladies and uniformly sized drawings of plants and objects that, too, are sensuous and sexual.

Hopefully by now you’re feeling an itch to put on your cold weather gear and hop along to the Art Museum for a cerise love in …you won’t be disappointed

Here’s a close up of the warm and wonderful female forms painted on silver leaf that gives them and the works the feel of sumptuous jewelery

Usually the works are easily read with the occasional canvas that gives you a head spin as does the first in this captivating line up

A second lacquer screen is less figurative but grabs attention with its polished luster and simple forms

The above screen tosses the viewer towards some sinuous and, some would say, Dahliesque like surreal oils on canvas…and these allow the eye a rest from the lashings of cerise and silver…but still keep your eye flowing along Khanh’s sensuous lines

And a lot will like the romantic…….

…which hints at the push towards that deep, deep pink that some will allow is just about too sexy for words and which pushes to the fore here:

Dao Anh Khanh, who greets you at the door in this sinuous self portrait

….and of whom you may catch a glimpse somewhere amongst the cerise, silver and surreal……

is unremittingly enthusiastic about celebrating life and sensuousness

…. And he may give another of his very sinuous and sensuous movement performances for which he is very renowned on the evening the show closes so watch out for the PR

Another piece of well contrived and presented showmanship by Hanoi’s extrovert master of both and as his gallery blurb unabashedly states that he is well known for being one of the leading artists of Vietnamese contemporary art. Additionally, to his achievements in the contemporary arts, he has held many international exhibitions, now spanning fifteen different countries, including the US, UK, France, Switzerland, Spain and China. On many occasions, Dao Anh Khanh and his works are featured on world recognisable channels and magazines such as The BBC, Discovery Channel, NHK and The New York Times. He was also promoted by Asia Art magazine as the most active artist. The Word Magazine voted him as ‘Man of the Year in 2010’ as part of 1000 years celebration of Hanoi birth.

Thanks to the TUNNEL ART GALLERY for sponsoring this exuberant exhibition

And a few more exuberant images:

PS: No, I didn’t like all of the work in the exhibition but I really did like its overall, extroverted enthusiasm….and just when I’d promised myself to cut down on the number of images I usually use in my opinion pieces, I couldn’t help myself when I came face to face with all that cerise!