Ngo Van Sac presents a fragmented and polarized reality in his latest solo exhibition In Opposite 2. Magic and reality, tradition and capitalism, nature and fabrication are the opposing elements that Sac uses to establish a symbiosis between man and nature.
Last week, Craig Thomas Gallery unveiled the new work of Hanoi-based artist Ngo Van Sac. In Opposite 2 features medium-scale collage with mixed media on canvasses that reinforce Sac’s limitless ability to find the universal in the personal and his fascination with the multi-faceted human existence.
Unlike his previous exhibitions, such as In the Midst of Life, where he contemplated the multiple and hidden personalities of individuals and their subsequent internal conflicts by burning portraits onto wood planks, here Sac is looking outward at the relationship between man and nature. It is clear that this is not a harmonious ‘marriage’ but rather a passionate, tumultuous one that nonetheless establishes an inexplicably strong bond between human beings and their natural environment. The latter occupies the magical aspect in Sac’s work and is represented by the motifs of colorful butterflies and fish.
Ngo Van Sac, In Opposite 4 (2015), mixed media on canvas, 117 x 140 cm - image courtesy of Craig Thomas Gallery.
Sac composes familiar faces and places such as, ordinary people, fishing boats and Tranh Đông Hồ’s couplet Vinh hoa and Phú quý, through newspaper collage and bright splashes of primary colors – blue, red, green and yellow.
The human and natural spheres do not inhabit the same space on the canvas: in Dream 2 and Dream 3, an invisible line separates the fishing boats and the fish that are swimming undisturbed as if they lived in a surreal, parallel dimension.
The butterflies – a recurrent motif throughout Western and Asian art – have often been associated to the qualities of longevity, eternal youth and peacefulness. A horde of butterflies takes over the world of Sac’s paintings, bringing with it a hypnotic beauty and a disturbing sense of lack of control.
In Across, they are the only source of happiness in an urban street that would otherwise be predominantly black and white. They are placed in the middle of a long bridge and it is not clear if they are there to lead us across it or to separate us from what is waiting on the other side. Either way, their presence gives a soothing and magical effect to the viewer.
Ngo Van Sac, Across (2015), collage and mixed media on canvas, 120 x 200cm - image courtesy of Craig Thomas Gallery.
Sac, who was born on the outskirts of Hanoi where he witnessed the urbanization of his native village, aspires to reunite and to understand the rapport between the man-made environment and the pristine bucolic one as he explained in the show’s press release: “the Earth’s components have always had close ties with each other. In such an environment, the relationships between human beings and the natural world [are] no exception to this rule. In creating this series, I wanted to highlight the interesting contrasts between the existences of people and nature.”
The Hanoian artist’s famous self-portrait – which garnered him the Dogma Prize for Portraiture in 2012 – reappears in this collection and is one of the pieces where such a union is visible: the butterflies wash over the upward-looking face and become part of the human.
Humanity is not demonized in Sac’s work, but I sometimes wonder if his fascination with our species is the kind that is driven by a mix of resentment towards our inability to live harmoniously nature and a genuine curiosity for our innate complexity.
In his work, men are often depicted with a stern look or a sad, meditative one, as in Fading 2, where a group of people from the Nguyen Dynasty era fade on the canvass and therefore through history: they and their traditions are slowly washed away by the inexorable course of time.
In Midday Dream, the drawing of a man is split in two: half made from colorful collages of images of everyday people, places and holiday photographs, while the other sees the reappearance of the fish motif on the background of newspapers articles on the modern market, economy, advertising and capitalist news. The world ‘dream’ is repeated to suggest the futility of contemporary economic desires in opposition to the more mundane, traditional and real life.
Ngo Van Sac, Midday Dream (2015), collage and mixed media on canvas, 135 x 75 cm - image courtesy of Craig Thomas Galler
Sac, who studied traditional media – lacquer, oil painting and silk painting – at Hanoi’s Fine Arts University, has shown an almost rebellious determination in exploring the use of different media to convey his subject matter. This makes any new exhibition by him one worth attending.
In Opposite 2 is on display at Craig Thomas Gallery until the 8th of December.
27i Tran Nhat Duat Street, Tan Dinh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, +84 (0)903 888 431.
[Top image: Ngo Van Sac, Fading 2 (2015), mixed media on canvas, 155 x 155 cm - image courtesy of Craig Thomas Gallery]
