Nguyen Art Foundation (NAF) cordially invites you to the opening of the group exhibition In absence, presence, curated by Bill Nguyen, featuring artists Oanh Phi Phi, Nguyen Thuy Hang, Linh San and Lena Bui. In line with NAF’s 2024 thematic focus – Innovation & Dedication – this two-part exhibition celebrates artistic practices that foreground and dissect critical ideas through innovative methods of creation and research. The exhibition will take place simultaneously across the campuses of EMASI Nam Long (District 7) and EMASI Van Phuc (Thu Duc City) from September 2024 to February 2025. The exhibition In absence, presence traces the sensorial qualities and subtle sensitivities inherent in artistic materials, thereby exploring the potential impact that material transformations can have on experiencing art.

Continuously innovating their approaches, the artists consider ideas, materials, and artistic media as living entities to speak to and collaborate with in an act of co-creation. The four artists, each with a unique approach, collectively create a multifaceted experience of the relationship between materiality and immateriality in contemporary art, blurring the boundaries between what is visible to the eye and what remains hidden in the imagination.

In this exhibition, Oanh Phi Phi's works explore how memory, reflection, and identity – concepts seemingly immaterial – can be materialized through lacquer, creating an intersection between the visible and the invisible. Meanwhile, Lena Bui focuses on examining the relationship between the human body and nature's body; energy; and the multidimensional existence of all things in the context of a rapidly developing modern world. For Nguyen Thuy Hang, layers of paper and muslin in her works combine with East Asian symbols of life and death to voice stories of memories that are difficult to say with words. With a background in literature, Linh San delicately uses ceramics as a writing tool to reflect on and describe both the simple and the arduous aspects of daily life, filled with love and partings.

In absence, presence is a multi-sensory experience, inviting viewers to participate in the process of co-creation and discovery. Viewers are encouraged not only to visually observe the works, but also to experience layers of sound and material, follow their tactile instincts, immerse themselves in the light and shadow or reality and illusion within the exhibition space, thereby expanding the boundaries that separate mind and heart.

For the artist biographies, please visit our website: https://nguyenartfoundation.com/

The exhibition opens at EMASI Nam Long on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 AM – 4 PM, and at EMASI Van Phuc on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10 AM – 4 PM (last entry at 3:30 PM).

For more information, please click here.