Young artist’s art exhibition opens in Hanoi
An art exhibition, dubbed ‘A Transformative Disguise’ by Le Hoang Bich Phuong, a young artist from Ho Chi Minh City, will be held at the Japan Foundation Centre (JPF) in Hanoi from June 28-July 27.
It shows a series of silk portraits of herself, friends and strangers either real or imagined, wearing the facial masks of particular animals. Deftly painted in subtle tones of watercolor, these images refer to the indulgent and insecure habits of human beings.
In addition to these paintings are miniature ceramic sculptures of human figures closely bound with their masks; some with missing limbs and one with a fish tank for a brain.
Bich Phuong’s questions in A Transformative Disguise are whether these masks once worn, can ever truly be removed.
Born in 1984, the Ho Chi Minh City based girl is one of Vietnam’s most promising young artists whose study of Vietnamese and Japanese silk painting traditions has greatly influenced her own unique style and technique.
She was awarded an artist-in-residence in Sapporo, Japan, as part of the JENESYS Program: Invitation Program for Creators of the Japan Foundation and was also one of the finalists for the DOGMA Art Prize in self-portraiture in 2011.