Where Do We Go From Here?
Diem Thuy Nguyen, HCMC
Ly Hoang Ly, Nursing Breast. Courtesy of the artist
Neighbors rise at four in the morning to cook chitterling gruel. At six they move with push-carts through districts, raising their voices to cry out breakfast jingles. With the sound of the vendors Saigon awakens. By dawn the temperatures quickly rise and several vehicles can be seen whirling by in the streets. Each day is a new day, each day there is something changing. The vendors mark Vietnam?s quickly developing economy; yet, the cultural production of art in general and contemporary art in particular have yet to fully benefit from this.
In downtown Saigon there are many stores selling reproductions of famous Western paintings by Van Gogh and Dal�, among others. As Vietnam has yet to pass any law on the issue of copyrights, even some Vietnamese works by outstanding historical or living painters are being copied. Most of these copies are sold to foreign tourists, and among the more popular are paintings of houses, landscapes with bright colors, and some interesting inflections of Dao Hai Phong. Others paintings include the wartime works of Tran Van Can, the author of the famous painting "Em Thuy", as well as paintings by Nguyen Thanh Binh of Vietnamese women in the traditional long dress. Of course the makeshift "painters" do not omit the late artist Bui Xuan Phai, who had created "Phai?s style" for his special renditions of the old city of Hanoi. The reproductions industry provides a career for several art university graduates. This is also the general public?s main supplier of ideas on what contemporary art is in Vietnam; this is a shame, as there are many new and interesting things happening in Vietnam, unknown beyond the community of working younger artists’ and their patrons.
The torch of contemporary art is smoldering in Vietnam. Some young artists have made some sparks although still too weak to ignite a Vietnamese contemporary art flame in the international art world. This is a vision of a younger generation of artists, and it should be encouraged by society in general. They are producing art very different from that of the street painters, such as performance, installation, video art, and paintings with innovative technique and materials. However, they are largely at the experimental stage, and their experiments haven?t reached the professional level, where they can be shown in different international biennials, triennials, and major international art fairs. It is a telling shortcoming of a society if the artists who have been chosen to show their works in these venues are unknown to its own public. Yet for artists such as Ly Hoang Ly, Minh Thanh, Tran Luong, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba and Bui Cong Khanh the international experiences thinking on an international standard, learn professionalism, and gain a saturated acquaintance with new work from many cultures. An indication of positive change is that there are increasing numbers of artists from overseas coming to Saigon to show their works. What is more, contemporary galleries like Blue Space gallery and Mai?s Gallery support these efforts and the hope that more and better artists will come to Vietnam in the near future to add more color for the art scene here.
Art is inherently fragile in the subjective ways that it is evaluated and appreciated; this is all the more complex in this developing country, where people are focusing more on the strength of the economy and are finding other ways to spend their leisure time, particularly in a commercial city like Saigon. On the other hand these circumstances provide artists with excellent work conditions: Every day things are moving from early in the morning until, in some areas, the next morning. Dust, smoke, noise, people, activities and life are crammed into every nook and cranny, contributing to Saigon?s energetic and beauty, and serving as an endless source for the artists. Artists who are awakened every morning by the announcements of breakfast vendors now strive to turn the world?s eyes toward Vietnam, an emerging contemporary art capital.
