Artists challenge values

A group exhibition named Tam Ta (Pouring), with works from five contemporary artists from Hanoi, has opened in HCM City.
A group exhibition named Tam Ta (Pouring), with works from five contemporary artists from Hanoi, has opened in HCM City.

The exhibition, with the assistance of pioneering artist and curator Tran Luong, is hosted by San Art and supported by Bui Gallery in Hanoi.

In this exhibition, imagination is given space to play with Nguyen Tran Nam's near life-size human figures resting on balls, Vu Hong Ninh's over-sized baby, made from soap, and Nguyen Huy An's shadows wreaking havoc with ink and charcoal.

Nguyen Van Phuc's star light stands propped up by a set of crutches, while Nguyen Manh Hung's ghostly bodyless figures hang from the ceiling.

The curator says this is the mystery of Tam Ta, a kind of mental state that exudes the mood of an unceasing kind of rain.

He says that it does not represent a torrent of water, but a rain of survival, of suspended psychological states or physical adventures, of a constant questioning of reality.

These young artists challenge human values, recognising that knowledge is the key to the door of the world.

This is the first exhibition of art from Hanoi since 2006 to be seen in HCM City by contemporary artists of the 1970s and 1980s generation. The touring exhibition, which opened at Bui Gallery in Hanoi in July, is an opportunity for local audiences to see the artistic ideas emerging from the country's capital as it is also rare for artists in Vietnam to have the chance to show their work across the country due to lack of funding.

San Art is one of three venues for the exhibition, which will be on view until November 13. Its next venue will be New Space Arts in Hue.

The Tam Ta exhibition is on view at San Art, 3 Me Linh Street, Ward 19, Binh Thanh district, HCM City./.

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