LE THUY
THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING
Opening: Fri 13 Nov 2020, 06:30 pm – 08:30 pm
Exhibition: 13 Nov 2020 – 08 Jan 2021
Vin Gallery
No 11 Street 55, Thảo Điền Ward, District 2, Hồ Chí Minh city
I see my work as a witness of the times, reflecting contemporary events through a personal lens, troubled and unstable. I am haunted by death and destruction. Those who wrestle with moments of death, what were their stories? The desperate fight and struggle to merely exist reflect the behavior and origins of a people; and then we witness the personal tragedies of those who just want to exist. I can not to fix anything. I can only hope for their salvation and a better future for all.
This exhibition “The silence is deafening” inspired by Rachel Carson’s “The Silent Spring”, that I created during a time of darkness for humanity. Pandemic, war, poverty, oppression, displacement, dispossession and those seeking refuge.
The deaths are of the defenseless, the powerless, the voiceless. Those of us who remain, live in social isolation, apart from loved ones, from nature.
“The Silence is deafening” collection in 2020, which I created based on the event where 39 Vietnamese people were found dead in a refrigeration truck, while being smuggled into England. To change their lives, they traded with their lives. In this work, I collected old, damaged zithers that can no longer produce sound. Using lacquer painting technique to depict the natural landscapes that humanity are experiencing and their lonely struggle. The 39 zithers, once can sing their song, now arranged in rows as in a graveyard. The songs are now just a hint, an memory and the suffering is hidden in the silence.
Sometimes the silence is deafening, sometimes silence is the only voice we have.
LIFE ORDINARY
18 February - 12 March 2020
Presented by Craig Thomas Gallery
27i Tran Nhat Duat Street, Tan Dinh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
This series is about my journey to find the pristine beauty of nature. A place where humanity is a part of rather than apart from, seeking dominion over it.
I want to find the serene beauty and romanticism of nature.
I'm not the first person to evoke and explore the beauty of nature, certainly not the last nor especially particular in my depiction of nature
I am simply a person living in a time that people call “modern”. Comfort and convenience have separated us completely from nature. I fee suffocated. I long to see a drop of morning dew on a leaf, the splendid redness of the setting sun, watch the passage of time on the fading petals, enjoy the brightness of stars against the dark sky.
All creatures are created equal. But are we really equal to other creatures on this rock?
We, humans, tear down mountains, poison rivers, destroy habitats, wiping out entire species. We set ourselves above and apart from nature to exploit it and in our selfishness and greed, we modern people, are ever lonely.
The works in this series titled "Life Ordinary" is my grief for the loss of the natural world, our collective loss. There is much evidence in literature, poetry, architecture that celebrate the majesty of nature and our place within nature.
Now, we have nothing but pollution, ugly high rises, barren fields and diseased herds. Nature was beautiful, and we made it pitiful. And it would be pitiful if we only know the beauty of nature through recorded images of the past.
I especially like the passage in Fukuoka's "On Straw Revolution".
"Snake bites frog ... hawk hunts snake. Wolf attacks hawk. One person kills the wolf, and later succumbed to the tuberculosis. Bacteria grow in human corpse and the grass thrive on nutrients from bacterial activity. Insects attack plants and frogs feed on insects”
Humans are just a part of the natural cycle life. Going against nature will only lead to self destruction.
I choose images from nature and arrange them according to the law of survival. Al living beings are wrestling with life and death approaches. As the bird lies decaying in the field, covered in flies, corn stalks withering desolately with only the echo of the water fowl in the emptiness. Even the comfortable herd struggle with nature for survival.
I am recording a heroic epic about the death of all life. I hope that after death, life returns as ordinary
UNINHABITED
(Young Talent Programme Winners’ Solo Exhibitions)
1 - 24 Septemper 2017
ION Art Gallery, Singapore.
I always feel cynical about life. The lovely things I'm seeing seem like a charade. The beauty that I adore for so long turned out to be a veneer. I am curious about, and search for the essence of things, I peer under the veneer. Beauty fades in decay. I chase after what I see as just a veneer. Disappointed. I find myself on a path to nowhere. I aspire to create a perfect world. A world of no people, of no frustrations, no pretensions, no constraints. That perfect world is probably the world of death. But death amplifies beauty.
I choose animal images that are placed imaginary spaces, using silk as the medium to express my feelings. In quiet observation, haunted and tormented.
WHERE IS THE PLACE OF PEACE
1 - 24 Septemper 2017
Craig Thomas Gallery
27i Tran Nhat Duat Street, Tan Dinh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
THE ORDER
Opening: Sat 25 Jul 2015, 6 pm
Exhibition: 25 Jul – 25 Aug 2015
Chula, Hanoi, Vietnam.
I have a special love for traditional silk material. That is why I have used silk as the main medium in my creative process.
Obsessed about a sense of place and space, I have asked myself a few questions: “where is a place of peace? Where do people live true to their nature?” To answer these questions, I have placed myself in different spaces. The interactions between spaces and people led me to appreciate the true value of life. These interactions can be both specific or figurative in nature.
I choose human figures, animals and nature and place them in imaginary settings with a narrative that is at times an opera, at times real life. I want to create an ambiguous, unreal space where there are hidden risks, struggles, loneliness and yearning for place where life is more beautiful.
I use silk because silk is a traditional material representing Eastern traditions. The softness of silk gives us a sense of mystery which is why I use silk to weave my personal stories.