TRAN TRONG VU REALISTIC FICTIONS F E B R U A R Y 2 6 - M AY 5 , 2 0 2 1
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Dear Friends: It’s our great pleasure to present our second exhibition with Tran Trong Vu. We’ve been interested in the work of Tran Trong Vu for almost fifteen years after we learned of his exhibition and talks at the Arizona State University Museum in 2006. Many of our gallery visitors will remember Tran Trong Vu’s first exhibition with us when the artist visited us in Tokyo and we created an installation in our main gallery. The works in this current exhibition are visually striking and the colors are compelling but what strikes the viewer is the juxtaposition of opposing forces that present a full picture of life as it is. These are works about life, about reality, and in particular a reality that is rarely seen in Vietnamese art. The works highlight the human condition for people in environments that are more oppressive than we may realize. He shows light to what is often in darkness. The one word that comes to mind when I see his work is courage. He uses colors that are not often seen together. Perhaps even more importantly, these are works that took courage to create by an artist who in protest self-exiled in France for more than 20 years. Still living in France with his family, he has now returned to Vietnam for several exhibitions where his work has been shown to great acclaim. Some of our friends in Singapore saw his work at the Singapore Art Museum. His work draws attention to the real conditions of life in an environment where things may not appear as they seem. His work reveals some of the tensions between an oppressive regime and those who are impacted, whether they be citizens or workers. This is life as it is. The good with the bad. There are times when these works make us smile. These are works that always make us think, make us appreciate our own lives and may inspire us to be courageous in our own lives. Courage is after all contagious. We invite you to feast on the works in this catalog. For more information, please contact us at info@tobinohashi.com Bob Tobin and Hitoshi OhashiTobin Ohashi Gallery tobinohashi.com
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Statement Of The Artist
“ To Be For Not Being” This is the motto that applies to my entire artistic career. I am the one who writes the contradictory and exploits the ambiguity of reality to make images. It is possible to distinguish several stages in my artistic approach revolving around the debate of two concepts: the first one considers painting as the ultimate goal of the work and the second regards it only as a simple mean among abundantly artistic means. My artistic career evolves from advocacy for the language of plastic arts to the uncertainty of the painting. At the same time, my vision of reality shifts from what is only visible to what is not only visual, but relatable to words. One of my main concerns is to break the inherent boundaries of each artistic discipline. My painting leaves its 2D to turn into a 3D image. My images are transformed into installation. My installations are metamorphosed into a theater stage. My theatre becomes subject of my painting that I tell with words. Such a way to revisit the painting. Indeed, when you want to modify a chemical substance, often you have only one way to add one or more substances, for a chemical reaction to occur. My work then becomes an anti-painting painting, and an anti-novel novel. My practice thus explores different possibilities and multiple dimensions of reality. Through painting and writing, my work aims to unfold opposing elements in every trivial object of life, the beauty and the ugliness, the existence and the nonexistence, the sadness and the happiness, the visual and the non-visual. In other words, it embodies my vision of the world and myself. Tran Trong Vu
Tran Trong Vu was born in Hanoi. He graduated first in his class from the School of Fine Arts in Vietnam and obtained a scholarship to go to the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-arts de Paris. He was a guest artist at the Reims School of Art and Design, a guest professor at the Vietnam School of Fine Arts, a curator and an artistic advisor at Heritage Space in Hanoi. He currently lives in France. His work is the subject of numerous publications of books, catalogs and press, including TRAN TRONG VU a Vietnam passer-through-walls, a 109-page art book, written by François Damon, Editions Maia, Paris 2017. His works are part of the collection of the Singapore Art Museum, the ASU Art Museum and the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts. He was awarded the first prize at the Biennale Austria 2006 and the prestigious Pollock- Krasner grant in New York for the 2011-2012 season. His work beyond aesthetics permeates the obsession with a past that continues. A volume covered with plastic flowers invite visitors to read stories and to get lost in a colorful anxiety. A forest of plastic sheets, suspended from the ceiling to the ground, from which 3D images are emerged. This innovative use of materials creates a trompe-l'oeil effect that leads the visitors into a virtual labyrinth. Bewildered, they seek the way between characters and colors and are instantly transformed into actors on stage. Playing with visual and psychological effects, his work intentionally gives the visitor experience of excitement and anxiety. He has had 17 solo exhibitions and 53 group exhibitions. His work has also been exhibited internationally at institutions including ASU Art Museum (Arizona), the National Gallery Singapore, the Singapore Art Museum (Singapore), the Youth Art Palace (Tashkent), Espace Ecureuil – La Foundation pour l’art contemporain (Toulouse), Künstlerhäuser (Worpswede), Casula Powerhouse (Sydney), Stenersen Museum (Oslo), Stiftelsen 314 – International Contemporary Art Foundation (Bergen), Centre d’Art Baie-Saint-Paul (Quebec), Galerie Mirchadani & Steinruecke (Bombay), Islip Art Museum (New York), Museum für Lackkunst (Münster), Espace Paul Ricard (Paris), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), le Musée d’art moderne de Paris (Paris), Plum Blossoms Gallery (New York – Hong Kong), Tobin Ohashi Gallery (Tokyo), Tropen Museim (Amsterdam), Watertoren (Vlissingen), Manzi Space (Hanoi), L’Espace – l’Institut Français (Hanoi), Musée Dapper hors les murs (l’île Goree), Whart gallery (Toulouse) Pikto galerija (Zagreb), Musée d’Arst et d’Histoire de Saint Brieuc (Saint Brieuc), Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (California), Cités du livre (Aix-en-provence), Orangerie du Sénat – Jardin du Luxembourg (Paris)...
"An Incomprehensible Man” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 80 cm x 60 cm Framed, Acid Free Mat, Black Frame SOLD
“Don’t Leave Me” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 40 cm x 50 cm 50 cm x 60 cm Framed. Acid Free Mat, Black Frame JPY 190,000 | $ USD 1800
“My Illogical Logic” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 50 cm x 70 cm 50 cm x 60 cm Framed. Acid Free Mat, Black Frame JPY 220,000 | $ USD 2100
Tran Trong Vu Installation
“The Red Republic” Mixed Colors on Canvas 30 cm x 40 cm 2020 JPY 200,000 | $ USD 1900
“…Vu’s paintings battle with life. It is his own way to go into the world. And he knows how to invite us into those colorful, seductive, translucent paintings; we approach them, recognize ourselves within them.” Sylvie Corroler-Talairach. Parisart
“Your Small Sky” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 40 cm x 50 cm 50 cm x 60 cm Framed Acid Free Mat, Black Frame SOLD
« T r a n T ro n g Vu i s a n a r t i s t o f Vietnamese background voluntarily exiled in France for 20 years. His work is deeply marked by the trauma of his exile and the memories of his youth under a communist regime. His autobiography thus forms the basis of the structure of his work. It is embedded in his work to the point that the exhibition space becomes an extended realm of his life.» Frédéric Jourdain
“A Kind of Thinker” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 40 cm x 50 cm 50 cm x 60 cm Framed Acid Free Mat, Black Frame JPY 190,000 | $ USD 1800
“The True Story” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 40 cm x 50 cm 50 cm x 60 cm Framed Acid Free Mat, Black Frame JPY 190,000 | $ USD 1800
“Realistic Fiction” Mixed Colors on Canvas 30 cm x 40 cm 2020 JPY 250,000 | $ USD 2400
Mixed Media on Automobile
“Military Man” Mixed Colors on Canvas 50 cm x 60 cm 2020 JPY 250,000 | $ USD 2400
“In The Red Planet” Mixed Colors on Canvas 40 cm x 50 cm 2020 JPY 250,000 | $ USD 2400
“The Little Man” Acrylic on Handmade Paper 40 cm x 50 cm 2020 50 x 60 cm Framed Acid Free Mat, Black Frame JPY 190,000 | $ USD 1800 ON HOLD
“Pink Sadness” Acrylic on Handmade Rice Paper. 40 cm x 50 cm 50 cm x 60 cm Framed Acid Free Mat, Light Wooden Frame
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TRAN TRONG VU REALISTIC FICTIONS
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