Make Shift comprises of four stacks of bricks, a modest dinner tray for four, a straw mat, floor tiles, and a set of buckets on a rainy day--basic articles found on any construction site. Together they reflect the provisionary nature of life while biding time waiting during the construction of a true home. Visible on almost every street throughout this city, this condition is merely an echo of the changing urban landscape of Hanoi.
An offshoot of Specula, the works from this exhibit emerged from my experiments in new surfaces to create Specula's curved ceiling, Make Shift includes my experiments using Vietnamese son ta baked on iron and recycled metal, an old industrial Japanese lacquer technique that I adapted to natural Vietnamese lacquer.
Bricks stacks line roads and villages waiting to be used in the construction frenzy overtaking Vietnam. The Great Wall contemplates the transformation of earth into a human dwelling, and how, piece by piece, mountains and fertile land transform into cities.
Relic-like, the brick stacks evoke the "glory" of ownership and the human desire to demarcate boundaries, possess territory, and exploit resources for consumption. This power left unbridled upon the fragile relationship with our surroundings is the ultimate cause of our global economic and environmental crisis.
The behavior of the son ta, a natural resinous substance, parallels this idea of material transformation. Although used here to represent brick, lacquer embodies the tactility of any solid matter- texture, weight, mass-- like no other painting medium.
The Great Wall examines this under-explored attribute of son ta lacquer.
Vietnamese natural lacquer (son ta) on wood with
silver, aluminum and pigments
190 x 240 x 8 cm
Four panel painting (190 x 60 cm each)
Hanoi, 2009
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Measuring exactly three square meters in floor space, Cadastre visually graphs the housing space per capita allotted for one individual in a densely populated Asian city. Comprising of 75 (20 x 20 cm) tiles, Cadastre is a floor sculpture that employs natural lacquer (son ta) burnt onto iron to faithfully represent mass-produced ceramic floor tiles used in building construction. Inspired by the artist Carl Andres idea of emplacement and sculptural relativity, I reintroduce a narrative element to portray the time worn patterns all too familiar in old Hanoi buildings.
Dramatic lighting, the golden properties of lacquer and the density of iron give the cadastre a transcendental weight.
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DELUGE
This piece is in collaboration with Ricardo Pla Cordero who made the sound maps for the installation. It is called Five Tone Containers.
Top: Landscape
Natural Vietnamese Lacquer (son ta) on stee;
31x40x1cm, Hanoi, 2008
Top Right: Provision
Natural Vietnamese Lacquer (son ta)
on recycled metal drum lid
circular, 60cm diameter, Hanoi, 2009
Bottom Right: As I Lay
80x100cm, Hanoi, 2008
Hanoigrapevine reviews Phi Phi Oanh's "Make Shift", at the Japan Foundation...
"ASPIRATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL"
19 Dec 2009
If boutique as an adjective implies intimate, luxurious, or quirky and all or any of these applied to a small space then Phi Phi Oanh's new exhibition Make Shift at the Japan Foundation wins on all counts. If the adverbs themed, stylish and aspirational are added to Phi Phis boutique exhibition then it is described even more aptly.
If you visit the small gallery only to revisit or become acquainted with the super fabulous floor piece first seen at the opening of the Bui Gallery in March then you will have seen one of the best bits of art seen in Hanoi this year or any year lacquer on steel.
Then if you fall in love with the round steel drum lid that has been lavishly lacquered with a traditional Vietnamese meal appetizingly laid out then who can blame you! I really aspire it as an actual table piece. I'd somehow cover it with glass and use it for intimate meals Im all in favour of good art being put to functional uses.
The small and quirky bucket installation is really delightful and the brick panels are a luxurious rendition of the plain, tatty, everyday and ordinary. Marvelous!
Catch it while you can. It's as good as Christmas.
PS: purists feel free to tackle my boutiqued use of grammatical terminologies.
