KVT – The Affordables Journey – Part Two: the Saigon-ese Invasion Plus one at Manzi

KVT floats along in an art wave foaming into the city from the deep south

The American colloquialism nutty as a fruitcake was coined around about 1935 and was used to refer to people who were extremely eccentric. This adjectival phrase will probably be used by a few readers to describe my taste in art after I conclude today’s rave about the small pieces of artwork that are on show at Manzi as part of their’s, and Workroom 4’s, AFFORDABLE ART SHOW-VOLUME 2– which, due to popular demand, has been continued for an extra day and now closes at day’s end today

Walking around the laden walls at Manzi on Saturday I soon realized that there was a spine tingle moving through the works on show that pushed it into the soopa doopa category

It was a bit like being in a train in a dark tunnel and suddenly bursting into the light….aptly portrayed here by Saigon-ese artist Ngo Dinh Bao Chau (the reflections were unavoidable due to jostling for space around the legs of the hordes of viewers)

Scattered through the approx 300 works available are a number by 6 deep southern practitioners and the one that caught my eye and continued to keep it picking out her exemplary bits and pieces- and ensuring that she is near the very top of my MUST HAVE A FEW list- was Phan Thao Nguyen

Phan Thao Nguyen is apparently a very capable video artist and someone in the know whispered that some of her drawings were stills from an animation

Her series- scattered through the other works- THE BIRTH OF A NATIONAL SCRIPT is invigoratingly refreshing and deserves an essay dedicated to itself (let’s hope an Hanoi-an gallery snaps her up for a solo)

Then there was a piece from another series THE INVENTION OF MOTHERHOOD-also provocative and a timely, though co-incidental Mother’s Day comment (It’s a pity that syrupy commercialized days aren’t used more often by artists such as Phan to make pithy social statements)

Two other bits of hers that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go are exampled below by the well that is poisoned with cholera

Then there was Truong Cong Tung whose small and deliberately a bit messy style paintings are involving and collectable and in particular-for me- the first below ABOVE SKY UNDER SEA which could be considered topical in the ongoing, neighborly, undersea resources politicking (my image may be distoting but in real life the piece is worth every bit of the $700 asking price)

A long time favorite of mine from the south is Le Hoang Bich Phuong whom I’ve enthused about in an earlier opinion piece about her solo at The Japan Foundation. Her ugly but extremely beautiful pieces on silk (see the link for an explanation) are, well, beautiful!

And beautiful too are her teeny drawings on paper at Manzi-exampled below

To conclude comes PLUS ONE who has a series of small and whimsical sculptures designed to take my breath away.

The knives by Viet Kieu, Thai Bui are just TOO good for more words though they deserve a whole lot!

PART 1: KVT – The Manzi / Work Room 4 Affordable Journal…Part One: Three Locals
TOMORROW: PART THREE- THE TRIED AND TRUE: HANOI-ANS PLUS ONE