A little bit throwback in the unsettling time of uncertainty (cont.)

In 2017 CUC Gallery was pleased to present a group exhibition “Personal Structures” with 5 Vietnamese contemporary artists organized by European Cultural Centre and GAA Foundation at Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy.

In the "Vietnam in Venice" exhibition (2017), Tulip Duong’s OCDM (2016, lacquer on wood, cremones) speaks of human condition with psychological intensity. While the one word for Do Hoang Tuong is “unsettling”, for Tulip Duong, it is a feminism.

In Tulip Duong’s OCDM, “OC” refers to open/close; “DM” is the Vietnamese version.

“In Tulip Duong’s earlier landscape paintings, the sceneries were always framed, as if they always had to be looked through a window, much like the extensive use of framing in Akira Kurosawa’s films, a constant reminder that the visual field was there only because there was a viewer. For Tulip Duong, this was always the viewer had the desire to leave an enclosure to be out there in the landscape.

This notion of viewer within enclosure is further developed in the current series utilizing the cremone bolts (for securing doors and windows). The cremone is a mechanism that involves a knob to be twisted, so as to extend or contract the rod to lock or open the door. It simulates the opening of the window or door.
…
The cremone is a reminder to be free, to advance into the landscape, by the symbolic turning of the knob. In all Tulip Duong’s cremone works, the audience are invited to physically turn the knob.”

The text and interview presented here is part of research for the book titled Essence, written by Kwok Kian Chow*, published by CUC Gallery in 2017.

If you wish to learn more about the artist, please go to this link: http://www.cucgallery.vn/duong-thuy-lieu
Interview link: https://youtu.be/mU9SHM989kM

_________
*Writer, curator and museum consultant, Kwok Kian Chow is program leader and associate professor of arts and culture management, and director of the Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University. Kwok was senior curator (1992-1994) of the National Museum of Singapore, Director (1994-2009) of the Singapore Art Museum, director (2009-2011) and senior advisor (2011-2015) of The National Gallery Singapore. He has published many books and articles on visual arts and cultural institutions in Southeast Asia, Singapore and China."

Exhibition space

Tulip Duong Interviewed by Mr. Kwok Kian Chow