‘Spent sleepless last night, messed up yesterday!’ solo exhibition by Le Vo Tuan opened at Cactus Contemporary Art Gallery on Saturday, featuring 26 portraits made of acrylics and one installation work made of oil, fabric, wood and ceramic.
By My Tran in HCMC
‘Spent sleepless last night, messed up yesterday!’ solo exhibition by Le Vo Tuan opened at Cactus Contemporary Art Gallery on Saturday, featuring 26 portraits made of acrylics and one installation work made of oil, fabric, wood and ceramic.
The pieces were made during 2008-2011 and the remarkable thing is the many cuts on portraits. Tuan explains: “No portrait is perfect and each has its own ups and downs of life, so they are traced with cuts.”
Tuan’s portraits show many different images and symbols in one scene, from clouds symbolizing hope and fleeting moments, a red monotone part for desire and insecurity and some cuts for multi-identity or a deceptive appearance. Some portraits have a number of eyes as if they want to look at the world more clearly, look back at visitors and challenge them to discover themselves.
The highlight of the exhibition is the installation work ‘Spent sleepless last night, messed up yesterday’, which consists of 20 small boxes containing faces made of ceramic, some pairs of shoes and clothes. Hanging on the boxes are some shirts and jeans which are painted white. “Each object has its own past and via them, I recall my past, save my memories and narrates my stories,” said Tuan.
“Belongings, costumes or stuff put inside boxes reminds people of a really vivid life filled of emotions of senses. From another angle, the artist may want to premiere a work with much narrative and poetic nature, together with a desire to control and take command of conflicting moods, happiness mixed with sadness, worries and fears of life,” said artist Luong Luu Bien.
The exhibition runs until May 13 at Cactus Contemporary Art Gallery, 17/12 Nguyen Huy Tuong Street in Binh Thanh District.