VietNamNet Bridge – An exhibition entitled “State Friction” will open at Galerie Quynh, 65 De Tham Street, District 1, HCM City from April 5 to 21.
The exhibition will introduce new artworks by the Propeller Group, including sculpture, drawing, video, and mixed media collages revolving around motorbike culture.

‘Static Friction’ takes as its point of departure the ubiquitous motorbike as it is experienced in Vietnam: as an icon of social and economic mobility; a vehicle for individual identity amid social collectivity; a machine for a lawless subculture obsessed with speed and violence; and as a classic symbol of a vintage, bygone era.

Though the exhibition is rooted in the context of Vietnam where over 85 percent of the population uses motorbikes as their chief mode of transport, the central theme highlights broader issues pertaining to globalism, identity, transgression, urban and economic growth.

The Propeller Group, formed in 2006 by Phu Nam, 38, Matt Lucero, (36), and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, 36, have exhibited in numerous exhibitions regionally and internationally, including ‘The Ungovernables’ at The New Museum, New York (2012); ‘Video, An Art, A History 1965 – 2010. A Selection from the Centre Pompidou and Singapore Art Museum Collections’ at the Singapore Art Museum (2011); and ‘Commercial Break’ presented by Garage Projects at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011).

Forthcoming exhibitions include ‘Six Lines of Flight’, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and ‘Made in LA’, LA Biennial, Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles. The Propeller Group is based in HCM City and Los Angeles.

‘Static Friction: Burning Rubber‘, a component of the larger ‘Static Friction’ body of work, is currently on view at San Art, Ho Chi Minh City until the 20th of April.

Gallery Quynh will be presenting selected works from ‘Static Friction’ at Art Hong Kong 12 from the 17th – 20th of May.

Thanh Van