“Wind” is one of Truong Tan’s lacquer paintings displayed at the “Light Years Away” exhibition - PHOTO: COURTESY OF GALERIE QUYNH

Truong Tan is one of the most courageous and experimental contemporary artists in Vietnam. In addition to being the first openly gay artist in the country to freely address issues of homosexuality in his art, he has proven his influence through groundbreaking works of performance and installation in the 1990s.

With his new work, Truong Tan presents a series of highly unusual lacquer paintings and two ambitious installations in this exhibition, titled “Light Years Away”.

Truong Tan has always been attracted by lacquer painting, the distinctly Vietnamese kind of painting using lacquer on composite wood panels, which are specially designed for the humid climate of Vietnam. The paints are naturally dark, so materials such as gold leaf, silver leaf and egg shells are used to add brightness.

In early 2017, Truong Tan began creating hyper-realistic depictions of astronomical objects in outer space. The first painting in the series, titled “Human”, features a planet viewed from space.

Inspired by this particular work, Tan created 23 other paintings of planets, symbolizing the variety of emotional states which an individual might pass through in the course of a single day. All 24 lacquer paintings are installed in a single room. They are hung tightly together to achieve a panoramic effect.

The exhibition also showcases two installations. “Family” comprises 42 jellyfish made from silk and polyester, while “Journey” consists of 10,000 handmade paper sculptures.

The “Light Years Away” exhibition illustrates the creative spirit of Truong Tan, who has never stopped testing the limits of art in society, as well as his own technical capabilities. SGT