Expressions from the trees

One of the pioneers in promoting art from all corners of Asia, Jorn Middelborg of Thavibu Gallery made Vietnamese, Burmese and Thai art trendy well before the Association of South East Asian Nations or Asean, thought of forming the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
Over the last two decades, the Norwegian has helped Thavibu evolve into one of the very few commercial galleries in Bangkok to focuses on modern and contemporary Asian art, especially works from Myanmar and Vietnam.
He’s also developed a healthy e-commerce art business, with Thavibu.com boasting collections by prominent Thais like Vasan Sitthiket, Myanmar’s old masters and hottest young ones and Vietnamese’s lacquer artists.
Vietnamese lacquer paintings are highlighted at the current exhibition “From Craft to Art: Vietnamese Lacquer Paintings” and are accompanied by an e-book written by Asian art expert and curator Shireen Naziree.
“From Craft to Art” features 40 paintings by Truong Tan, whose works are collected by New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Dinh Quan, who is best known for his large scale paintings, and veteran lacquer specialist Trinh Tuan who translates ancient techniques into contemporary works.
Truong Tan is known above all for his erotic references to his sexuality, making use of his autobiographical experiences, perceptions and feelings to mark his artistic narrative. His departure from the university where he served as a lecturer until 1997 was largely due to his challenging art that openly expressed his gayness and questioned the contradictions of the then economic liberalisation policy or “Doi Moi”.
Rejecting the more conservative assumptions of art adopted by his peers, Truong Tan moved to Paris under a grant from the Cite Internationale des Artes. Despite his reputation as the enfant terrible of the time, Truong Tan has today emerged as one of Vietnam’s most internationally acclaimed artists. Beside the Guggenheim, his works can be found in the permanent collections of such major institutes as the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia and the Singapore Art Museum.
His latest paintings in the “Dynasty” series use lacquer or oil paint on board to create a feeling similar to ceramic surfaces. Prices for works in “Dynasty” series start from US$12,500 (Bt387,500) for an oil painting (100cm by 81cm) and go up to $19,800.
Recognised as one of Vietnam’s most important lacquer artists, Dinh Quan has adapted the medium to include alternative techniques and other art disciplines such as sculpture. The earlier focus of his lacquer paintings was the female, which he often depicted in a refined, surrealist style. His ghostlike women sometimes seem sensual or at others deconstructed.
In his recent works, questions of subjects and viewpoints undergo subtle inflections toward their material, spatial and historical dimensions. His works forms part of the collections of the Singapore Art Museum, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and the National Art Gallery of Malaysia.
An artist who specialises mainly in figurative lacquer painting, Trinh Tuan was born in Hanoi in 1961. He completed his BA at the Hanoi Industrial College of Fine Art in 1985 and earned his MA at Hanoi Institute of Fine Art in 2000. His works deal with such subjects as feelings and emotions and often a single figure in his paintings can bring forth feelings of loneliness, sadness, or happiness and love.
The e-book that accompanies the exhibition provides an introduction to lacquer painting as a form of fine art. Although the lacquer technique is centuries old in Asia, it is only in Vietnam that it has been developed as a technique in modern and contemporary lacquer painting and thus makes an important contribution to the global art scene.
The e-book consists of two parts. The first part of the book showcases modern lacquer paintings that have been collected by the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi. In the early 20th century, Vietnamese artists were encouraged by their French art teachers at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Hanoi to experiment with traditional media such as silk and lacquer to produce modern paintings, paving the way for a fresh generation of artists to try out new ways of expression.
The second part of the book provides an introduction to contemporary lacquer painting and to works by some of the most important artists of this genre. These works deal with themes that are frequently raised in contemporary society: social issues, political commentary, abstractions, love and emotions. Today’s Vietnamese artists address these sane issues but do so in the unique medium of lacquer.

 The show runs through October 19. For more information, visit www.Thavibu.com.