The face of Vietnamese contemporary art: The DOGMA self-portrait award
- cnualart
- Aug 31, 2011
- 4 min read
This is the full version of the article published in pages 46-47 of issue 42 of Asia Life magazine in September 2011.
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How would you show yourself in a picture for complete strangers to examine? Would you depict what you see in the mirror, or what others see? What pose reveals the way you walk and stand? What materials, colours and techniques have your signature? The interpretations of your image would vary, the likes and dislikes would reason with each other. Gathering an impression of someone’s picture if a thoughtful occupation.
Gathering impressions of over one hundred self-portraits is an opportunity to discover how a country sees itself. In July 2011 the HCMC Fine Art museum portrayed the recent history and immediate future of Vietnamese art. From the walls, dozens of faces stared at the gazing public. Half the ground floor showcased self-portraits from the DOGMA collection, from the 1960s to the present. The other half of the galleries featured the shortlisted works of ‘Beyond the Mirror’, Vietnam’s first nationwide self-portrait art prize.
On view are classic oil, silk and lacquer paintings, as well as sculpture, photography and less traditional media. Approaches vary from Renaissance-style poses to dynamic photo-shoot compositions. The spacious rooms of the Fine Arts Museum are a wonderful backdrop.
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My personal favourite is the curious silk painting, below on the right, Le Hoang Bich Phuong’s entry. Silk painting was popularized in Vietnam by Nguyen Phan Chanh in the 1920s, but only a handful of artists currently produce contemporary art in this technique. Phuong shows herself with complete disregard for old school notions of beauty – particularly female depictions of beauty. And yet she paints herself with a humour and vivaciousness that makes her appear approachable despite the otherwise disrespectful stance and cold colour scheme.
On the left is the work of another painter who disfigures himself for psychological effect, but who creates a sadder atmosphere that resists the bright colours chosen. Nguyen Huu Tang’s inflamed body is swollen with awe for the laws of nature. Or is it in anger? Art is an occasion for sharing different viewpoints.
The exhibition is bursting with amusing and intelligent self-portraits. It is evident that this is not a state-funded ode to glorify compliant cultural production. The exciting thing about new and open competitions is that the variety of submissions uncovers both the innovations being created by emerging artists, and the talent expressed in quality old-school work.
The Dogma competition offers a boggling 100 million dong prize to a single winner, and is set to become a biennial award on Vietnam’s art calendar. The generous award is likely to attract a large number of participants. Not only that, being a private competition, it has a certain liberty to diminish the often-lamented dinosaurial practices of inward looking institutions. The Dogma prize has the potential to be the spark that opens the door to fresh ideas that are currently pulsating under the radar.
The idea to have a private prize for the arts in Vietnam comes from long-timer Dominic Scriven, who started his personal art collection nearly 2 decades ago, and felt the time was right to give something back to the country he has made his home. He is passionate about the arts, and felt the need to support them not only by collecting art, but by offering opportunities for artists to keep on creating. Dominic has thought long and hard about the potential conflict of interest that can arise when a collector sponsors an art prize. Mr. Scriven is not involved in the judging, and to ensure transparency, he consulted with artists, gallerists and curators before taking the risk to move on with this project, which ultimately is solely for the benefit of the artists. ‘Giving back is critical’ says the man who firmly embeds corporate social responsibility into his business ventures.
Whilst investing in art can be a profitable trade and a sustainable promotional tool for a corporation, it is undeniably instrumental for conserving visual history and it helps artists to continue creating it. In the same month, the British Council in Vietnam announced a very generous fund to support Vietnamese artists and arts organizations, so we could soon see the local art scene flourishing at the speed of a xe om driver before a storm. This might be a good time to start collecting, if you were considering investing in art.
I asked one of the participating artists for his opinions about the prize. Like most young creators, his interest is mainly in having the opportunity to exhibit (in prime location, too), rather than in winning. Prizes can be a bit of a lottery, and perhaps amongst young artist there is a jaded expectation that the award will go to the most established and least disruptive artist, in the way that other national prizes appear to have been allocated. A little disappointed that the winning self-portrait was not one of the most innovative submissions, this young man was nonetheless thrilled to be shortlisted. That’s not surprising, since about 200 artists didn’t achieve that.
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A reduced but select panel of art specialists, a European curator, a Vietnamese museum director and a Viet Kieu art critic, all based in HCMC, determined the criteria for selection.
The small team sifted through over 230 submissions, selected the best, and agreed unanimously on who the award would be granted to. The winner is Nguyen Van Cuong, for his large and somber close-up painting in mottled oil stains. This self-portrait has the full force of the openness and honesty that compelled Dominic Scriven to start collecting self-portraits above any other genre.
Another 30 works line the museum walls, each a conversation piece rich in subtleties. A multitude of approaches give colour to how artists see themselves in this land. Collectively they compose the face of current art production in Vietnam.
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