Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Craig Thomas Gallery (CTG) is pleased to present Phu Phiem – Frivolity, a solo exhibition of new silk paintings by Vietnamese artist Bui Tien Tuan. The exhibition will open on 8 September 2011 at CTG’s annex gallery space where it will be on display until 12 September. The Frivolity – Phu Phiem collection will then move to CTG’s main gallery and continue until 25 September. The exhibition is curated by Craig Thomas and Xuan Mai Ardia.
In emerging nations, economic development can often lead to a dilution of cultural traditions and customs. Often these are left behind and replaced with what is considered to be more new and modern. This phenomenon is witnessed not least in the arts. Artists in these changing societies face strong incentives to embrace forms of expression that are considered to be more contemporary in lieu of traditional media.
After studying silk painting at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University, Bui Tien Tuan spent ten years after graduation working primarily with oils on canvas. Tuan’s decision in 2008 to return to painting on silk sprang from his love of the medium and his sense that it was starting to fade into a solely decorative form. Tuan wished to preserve what he regarded as an important part of Vietnam’s cultural heritage and contribute to its development into a medium of fine art.
In his Phu Phiem series, Tuan introduces a more contemporary language of expression to silk painting through an evolution of subject matter and the introduction of a vibrant new color palette. He eschews the idealized landscapes and scenes of village life that dominate much of traditional Vietnamese silk painting for a “phu phiem” or “frivolous” world where sensual and charming women flaunt their beauty, their fashion, their naked form.
Tuan’s choice to represent women in the paintings of his Phu Phiem series has a strict affinity to the medium. Silk has a delicacy that is feminine in essence and in Tuan’s view the female form comes to life through silk. Tuan’s subjects are mostly portrayed nude with the skin not painted or colored, emphasizing Tuan’s belief in the intimate and symbiotic relationship between silk and skin.
The “noi phu phiem”, or places of frivolity, in which Tuan’s women are portrayed can be seen as a parallel to the ukiyo-e, or “floating world,” of 17th - 20th century Japanese woodblock printing. Like the geishas and courtesans of ukiyo-e, Tuan’s sirens live in an evanescent, impermanent world of fleeting entertainments divorced from the responsibilities of the mundane, the everyday. They float in a land devoid of time and space, existing in a world apart.
The silk paintings of the Phu Phiem collection are a door into Tuan’s world. A place populated by mysterious, sensuous and attractive creatures. These women become a part of our own fantasies; they could be anyone we wish them to be, anywhere we desire them to be.
Bui Tien Tuan was born in the city of Hoi An in Quang Nam Province in 1971, and currently resides in Ho Chi Minh City. Tuan is a 1998 graduate of the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University where he now works as a lecturer. He has exhibited extensively in Vietnam. Phu Phiem is Tuan’s second solo exhibition of silk paintings.
