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[TGS – Introducing Artists] Trần Thược & Xuân Hạ

Posted on 03/07/2023

The Grapevine Selection, was initiated by Hanoi Grapevine’s founder – artist Brian Ring exactly 10 years ago in 2013. The exhibition series The Grapevine Selection is an initiative within Hanoi Grapevine’s mission plan, which is to promote Vietnam’s arts and culture at home and abroad.

The Grapevine Selection 2023 is a bold experiment when placing contemporary works of outstanding artists, from painting and sculpture to installation in a space rich in cultural heritage such as the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam to a modern high-end industrial space like Audi Charging Lounge. Hanoi Grapevine hopes that the change in space will not reduce the audience’s experience of enjoying art, but will resonate with works of unique beauty, increasing the sensory experiences by cross-linking exhibition spaces and themes, a trend that will explode in Vietnam in the future.

The Grapevine Selection 2023 selected 53 artworks from 16 artists from the following areas of art practices: Painting, Sculpture and Installation with consultation from the Art Advisory Board.

Artist Trần Thược

Trần Thược was born in 1992, living and working in Hanoi. Trần Thược graduated from the Sculpture faculty of the Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts and has participated in many national and international group exhibitions, such as the 4th Young Art Biennale Exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City (2017), the “Korea, Traditional and Modern” Exhibition at Korean Cultural Center, Hanoi (2018), the “Art In The Forest” Exhibition at Flamingo Dai Lai Art Space (2018); the Recycled Art Exhibition organized by UNESCO and Coca-Cola in Da Nang (2019). Trần Thược also hosted a solo exhibition, “Circle of Time” (2020) at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

“Everything appears, grows, and disappears; that is the cycle of every species. How long or short that cycle depends significantly on external forces and inner resilience of the desire to live and adapt. Like that, everything moves and depends on one another to progress. The symbols of fertility are always present in my works – I want to communicate prosperity and honor the lives of every species. Like our desire to be alive, every shape tends to rise and move to where the sun is, fostering life. As a result, everything is always in motion, developing into cycles of neverending time. Artworks with dents are like marks of time: these forces make us stronger to overcome hardships. Additionally, the hollows on my pieces represent the core remainings of life: time will erase anything deemed unnecessary. With only the base of existence, every species will continue moving and growing to nurture each other.”

Artist Xuân Hạ

Xuân Hạ was born in 1993, is an interdisciplinary artist and community-engaged art practitioner who currently lives and works in Da Nang; and whose practice focuses on the sociocultural changes in her hometown in the central region of Vietnam. Through various experimentations with materials, space, and social interaction, Xuân Hạ interprets the visual structure of her own narratives using a vast array of different artistic representations such as painting, video, sculpture, installation, and conceptual art. Besides working as an artist, Xuân Hạ also plays an active role in building and expanding the local art community, as she believes that community is at the core of her practice. She co-founded the art collective Chaosdowntown Cháo in Saigon (2015-2019) and A Sông club (2019) aiming to explore the identity of Da Nang – Quang Nam and its people.

Stranded
The work is printed with information on where and when the discarded glass bottles were picked up (Most of the bottles are ocean garbage washed in; garbage often gets stranded after storms that mostly occur in the Central region of Vietnam).

Returning
Print on each bottle:
“Hometown: Phuoc An Beach, Binh Hai Commune, Thang Binh District, Quang Nam Province.

Anonymous
?-05/2020-?”
The works are glass bottles that the artist picked up while wandering on the beach. These bottles drift ashore from many different sources but are all stuck in the same area. Xuân Hạ imagined a seemingly almost fictional but probable story about an arduous journey of returning.

Incarnation
Xuân Hạ’s kinetic sculpture, inspired by the story of Mẹ Nhu, a National Heroic Mother, starkly contrasts with the cold, permanent materiality of stainless steel is the emotive memory of warm blood flowing out of Mẹ Nhu’s frail body when she attempted to protect her children.