Women in Vietnam are often depicted in art wearing the traditional Ao Dai and conical hats, or at least this is what misleading collective imagination and popular culture want us to believe.
This stereotype could not be overturned more easily than by the work of Saigon-based artist Bui Tien Tuan.
The women depicted in his paintings are mysterious yet fragile; they are sensual yet sad. Their faces are often hidden or not defined; they are not seen in their daily life but rather floating around the canvas as their simple being is enough to fill the space with beauty.
A red thread can often be seen tangled around the naked women’s bodies, for Tuan this represents “a link between the viewer and his world of poetic sensuality”.
Tuan paints on do paper, a rough textured paper produced in Vietnam and used in traditional folk art, he also uses silk (another typical material in Vietnamese art).
‘Red Thread’ exhibition, opening at Craig Thomas Gallery this coming Thursday, shows the artist’s interest in women’s beauty, passions and dreams at their purest level.
