VietNamNet Bridge - An exhibition by Vietnamese artists Doan Hoang Lam and Doan Xuan Tang is being organized at the International Modern Art Gallery, 1802 Sunset Boulevard, Houston, Texas, US from May 7 through July 31.

Lam is a painter of the unseen, of the ephemera of processions, of life cycles, of the tantalizing cerebral realms of desire, orchestrated with a precision and sense of weightlessness that draws the viewer in, like walking through an alluring evening fog.

An accomplished and well-regarded artist, Lam has been featured in numerous group shows and solo exhibits in Thailand and Vietnam. However, this exhibit “Shades of Time” is the first opportunity for the American public to experience Lam’s artistry.

These often indecipherable yet beautiful works function as painterly allusions to the ceremonial and visual culture of Vietnam, too long oppressed and hidden, particularly unseen in this part of the world and as such are particularly meaningful and rich.

Much of Lam’s work moves beyond description, and lives in the world invented by the artist himself, a type of Objective Abstraction, with a strong emphasis on painterly activity, gesture and calligraphic flickering forms.

In Lam’s work, the evocation of feeling, experience and state of mind are paramount, and this is a concern he shares with early twentieth century Expressionist artists, particularly in the figural drawings, where a thick black line gives corporeality, a thin ragged line shows movement, and a certain sexual rawness. In fact, a visceral sensibility in the nude series is present, reminding one of the shocking raw drawings of Viennese artists.

In Portraits of Light, Doan Xuan Tang’s impressionistic paintings favor the observations of an ethnographer’s memories within indigenous terrain.

By seeking creative inspiration in native landscapes, Tang joins the likeness of artists Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Andre Derain while blending the influence of Neo-impressionism and the brightness of fauvism.

The emotional qualities within the paintings draw the viewer into his narrative in the same way that poetic field notes serve as part documentation and part expression. Most importantly, Tang’s passionate work translates his experiences of studying the cultural landscapes of the remote mountainous Northwest Vietnam, luring us above and underneath the surface to see the beauty in historical topography and culture.

Tang’s vivid imagery preserves memories, narratives and customs, and tributes the mountainous regions of Vietnam as an inspiration to modernist thought and his own cultural history. The works use contrasting paint streaks with representational details, while connecting symbolic references from the past to the future. His paintings remind us that our view of portraiture and cultural surroundings can be expanded to include images that are full of energetic colors, lines, and textures.

Tang’s abstract paintings are dreamlike, relics from a historic time that have been reclaimed through line and mark. Like ancient scenes on screen the light in each painting flows in and out with tones that fade into its surroundings. Delicate strokes of gleaming lights hover over each image in a sacred harmony.

hough Tang’s work has been exhibited widely abroad, the upcoming exhibition at the International Modern Art Gallery marks Tang’s first exhibition in the United States. Each painting in the series displays a different ray of brilliance and an awareness of distinct visual encounters. Tang’s ability to paint light not only display’s his sensitivity to everyday life but confirms his value within contemporary art.

Hanoi Grapevine