KVT – Oh to be a Young Artist!

KVT ducks into 16 Ngo Quyen for another rendezvous with young and post young members of the Young Artists’ Club

Went along to 16 Ngo Quyen to see what the Young Artists’Club had installed this year.

Occasionally this annual event chucks a bright new star into the artistic firmament and you get an inkling of who the NEXT BIG THING might be.

No such luck this time!

There are more than 40 works on display over two levels

Many appear not to be new works…in fact a couple have been hanging around the traps for a few years. While my druthers would have been to see fresh and exciting new pieces straight from the year of the Goat or the rear end of the Horse or, at least, art works made since the last annual exhibition, I can understand that the Club is interested in raising its profile and that’s probably why a lot of work on show is by previous club members who are respected established artists now into their early and midddle middle age.

For me, three works that shone out from canvasses, sculptures and one installation spread over two gallery levels were a suspended figure by Do Hiep……

….an effective and thoughtful mixed media wall piece by Le The Anh…..

….and a small metal bird attempting to take flight while hindered by coke bottle wings. This is another whimsical piece in Thai Nhat Minh’s bird series.

Being a person who loves to hide behind a mask I couldn’t help but be fascinated by a series of composites by Ngo Thanh Bac

Do Chi Quan’s wood carving of a pregnant figure was effective

From the small selection of prints available this one by Nguyen The Hung was the standout

Then there’s a smallish 3D photograph montage by and in Nguyen The Son’s inimitable style that made me pause

After the visual impact in the two full galleries it was a nice relief to pause on the stairs and drink in Le Nguyen’s tumbling Mexican rose flower garden

The tarted up wall outside the gallery is one of the freshest works in the vicinity!