Last Friday Craig Thomas Gallery presented ‘Hong Kong Bound: AAF Preview’, in which the works of 10 contemporary Vietnamese artists were displayed to the public before they take off for Hong Kong to be exhibited at the renowned ‘Affordable Art Fair.’
Since its opening in 2009, CTG has promoted and collaborated with established and mid-career Vietnamese artists, it is in fact one of the few established spots in town that focuses solely on presenting Vietnamese contemporary art.
The preview exhibition included figurative and abstract mixed media, oil and acrylic paintings and wood-burnt installations by artists both established and mid-career Vietnamese artists such as Lim Khim Ka Ty, Bui Thanh Tam, Lieu Nguyen Huong Duong, Pham Huy Thong, Tran Minh Tam, Nguyen The Hung, Bui Tien Tuan, Tran Quoc Tuan, Luong Luu Bien and Ngo Van Sac .
The artworks selected showcase the wide-range of sensibility as well as aesthetic inclinations in the Vietnamese artistic panorama; from the watercolour on silk and do paper sensual, delicate yet traditional female figures by Bui Tien Tuan (‘Girl in Ao Dai’, ‘Nude’, ‘The girl in the flower dress’); through Nguyen Van Sac’s overlapping, multi-layered wood-burnt and wood curved portraits and self-portraits (‘In the Midst of Life’, ‘Midday Dream 1 &2’), to Bui Thanh Tam’s humorous and at the same time critical representation of the new ‘rich-money-making’ Hanoians whose grid and thoughtless obsession with money and status are depicted through caricatures in bold colours (‘Crazy People XXVI’, ‘Crazy People XXVII’).
The Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong will run from the 21st until the 23rd of March, and takes place over 12 cities around the globe – London, New York, HK, Milan, Brussels, Singapore, Toronto, Maastricht, Mexico City and Hamburg, Bristol and Stockholm.
Apart from being excited as always by the fact that Vietnamese art is getting increased visibility on international platforms, there is one more reason to like this event.
To quote the founder Will Ramsay’s motto “you don’t have to be a squillionaire to have art on your walls”, the fair has, for 18 years, proved to be a successful and profitable approach to promoting new artists and to narrow the gap between art lovers and the often high-end artworks that are often presented on mainstream platforms.
You still have time to go down to CTG to view the artworks before they fly off to Hong Kong and may never come back.
For more information, visit the Craig Thomas Gallery Facebook page.
