A watercolor on handmade paper by Vietnamese female artist Vu Thu Hien
After a showing in New York last month, an exhibition of contemporary Vietnamese fine art curated by Raquelle Azran will move to London.
“Worlds of Paper and Wood” will showcase the works of Dinh Thi Tham Poong, Vu Thu Hien, Phung Pham, Trinh Tuan and Vu Duc Trung from November 1 – 9 at Store Street Gallery.
It will also include a press view on October 31 at the venue, 32 Store Street, London WC1E 7BS.
According to a gallery press release, the oldest featured artist is 79-year-old Pham and the youngest, 32-year-old Trung. Tuan, considered a master teacher as well as an artist, is the third male lacquer artist. The two female artists, Hien and Poong, both 43 and in the same graduating class from the Fine Arts Academy in Hanoi, work in watercolors on handmade paper.
The release notes: “Never confrontational or aggressive, Vietnamese art is a lyrical, serene and intriguing moment of beauty in time. The juxtaposition of handmade rice paper and traditional lacquer painting with contemporary artistic techniques bridges the temporal worlds of past and present and spans the cultural divide of East and West.”
The paper is hand-crafted in traditional craft villages using a centuries-old technique, while the lacquer is distilled from the sap of an indigenous Asian tree, layered and polished to produce shimmering effects of shade and color.