[vnforum] Australian artist sees 'life is made up of little things'
ken...@webmail.netimages.com
[ Viet Search Engine on VietGATE http://www.vietgate.net ]
[vnforum] - Mesg from ken...@webmail.netimages.com
Australian artist sees 'life is made up of little
things'
vnn-6/12
VNS- The question What's on earth are you doing?
has been haunting the mind of young Australian painter
Paul Davis since he came to Viet Nam - the answers he
found are manifested in an exhibition of water- colour
paintings, black pen illustrations and sketchbook
reproductions opening tomorrow at the Australian
Embassy Gallery in Ha Noi.
"What I have been seeing here is all very normal
to Vietnamese, but amazing to me, " says Davis.
The exhibition, presenting 35 works created over
the artist's nine month stay in Ha Noi, explores a
different face of the city and its people. In the
artist's eyes, life in the city is more open. Streets
are like a constantly flowing stream where he sees
children playing on pavements or a family on a
motorbike at rush hour. The flows of life are so fast
that sometimes he "can't catch up with it with his
black pen."
"Lots of information comes to me while I am
sitting on street corners, "he says. "With its clutter
and noise, Ha Noi truly is intensely fascinating and I
have been compelled to record it while I am here.
"I understand the justifiable pride Hanoians have
for their city."
Davis says the title What on earth are you doing?
is in response to both the inquisitive approach many
people have to him drawing on the street and to the
bigger issue of how exactly to spend your time in Ha
Noi.
His trips as an Australian youth ambassador to
rural provinces have also provided him a lot of
material for his work.
While the drawings depict the quirky aspects of Ha
Noi and the countryside, in a series of postal stamps,
Davis selects street subjects that would not normally
make it onto a real stamp. Except some traditional
scenes like those depicting Vietnamese girls in ao dai
(traditional dress), Davis thought his own stamp
designs would better introduce life here.
"I have seen many stamps here and thought that
while they were beautiful they did not capture the Viet
Nam I was experiencing. The smaller things that caught
my eye are just as valid for use on a stamp. "
In another series of paintings, Davis examines the
idea of tourist photography in Viet Nam and how it can
be intrusive and sometimes rob people of their dignity.
"I cringe at the thought of tourists insensitively
pointing their cam- eras in the face of people living
and working here. Tourists have a natural desire to
record, as I am doing, but sometimes it can spill over
into rudeness."
This is represented by a series in which people
are without eyes - local people who have had a crucial
part of themselves taken away.
Davis studied English Literature and Theatre
Teaching at the University of Tasmania - his home state
in Australia. Since then he has travelled and worked in
India and more recently completed a post-graduate
degree in Arts Management.
"Life is a theatre, " he says, "and the theatre
stage here is pretty different from my one at home. "
He says that the most attractive aspect of the
country has been the friendliness of its people and his
own love for Vietnamese art, especially the fine arts.
"Vietnamese art will certainly gain higher status if
the artists have more chance to present their creations
abroad."
Davis is currently in Viet Nam working as a
volunteer through the Australian Youth Ambassadors for
Development programme and is working with CCF Australia.
His exhibition will run through to June 28.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through Net Images WebMail
Get your own free webmail account http://webmail.netimages.com
---------------------------
VNForum Archive at
http://gw.netimages.com/cgi-bin/fetch?newsgroup=vnforum
To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to vnforum, send email to majo...@saigon.com
with one of the following text lines:
subscribe vnforum
or
unsubscribe vnforum
in the BODY of your message.