ART
Art & The City Although the artists may deny it, Hanoi’s unique environment produces an equally unique creative response. Alyssa Becht talks to a trio of artists working in different mediums. Photos by Thiep Nguyen
H
Dinh Cong Dat
anoi is relentless with its artists. Without them knowing or wishing it, the city burrows under their skin and reveals itself in a variety of ways, in a variety of mediums. Artists can claim that Hanoi isn’t any different from anywhere else but their work says otherwise. These artists have a loving but complicated relationship with their hometown and their art is dramatic evidence of it. Of course, their teachers got it wrong. “The teachers in my art college were really stupid,” says sculptor Dinh Cong Dat. “You can write that. It was like when they became teachers they gave up on learning. They lost their drive. If they taught badly nothing happened to them, there were no repercussions. The teaching model used came from France a hundred years before. It was completely irrelevant to modern Vietnamese art-making.” Dat — aka ‘Crazy Dad’, aka ‘Dad Ant’ — has been a visible character on the Vietnamese art scene for over 25 years. His work is instantly recognisable — giant fibreglass praying mantises and stainless steel figures of his signature creature, The Ant.
January 2014 Word | 81