Departures: Intersecting Modern Vietnamese Art with R. Streitmatter-Tran

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De Sarthe Gallery and Art Agenda, S.E.A. are pleased to announce DEPARTURES: Intersecting Modern Vietnamese Art with R. Streitmatter-Tran, an exhibition of contemporary and modern Vietnamese art that tracks the flow of artists and ideas between Vietnam and the West over the last century. In the show, major new work by the preeminent Ho Chi Minh City-based contemporary artist Richard Streitmatter-Tran intersects with a collection of forty modern masterpieces by artists central to the story of modern Vietnamese art from the pre and post-war era: Le Pho, Le Quang Tinh, Le Thi Luu, Luong Xuan Nhi, Mai Trung Thu, Nguyen Gia Tri, Nguyen Hong Linh, Nguyen Phan Chanh, Trinh Van, Vu Cao Dam, and their French mentors Victor Tardieu and Evariste Jonchère. Opening May 26th, the exhibition runs until July 8th, 2017.

The exhibition marks the first time that a number of significant modern masterpieces from Vietnam will be showcased together in Hong Kong, as well as Streitmatter-Tran’s first major solo presentation in the city. Working across a range of mediums including watercolor on silk, unfired clay, sound, iron and cake, Streitmatter-Tran initiates dialogue that offers new perspectives on historically significant work from Vietnam’s first generation of modern artists.

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MODERN ARTWORKS

1892 - 1956

EVARISTE JONCHÈRE

Evariste Jonchère (French, 1892 - 1956) At the age of 33 he won the Prix de l’Indochine and went to Vietnam where he spent two years painting and sculpting. On his way back he undertook a quasi-tour of the world (Manchuria, Japan, San Francisco, Newfoundland, etc.).

In 1938, he was appointed Director of the École des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi, taking over from Victor Tardieu. He stayed there until 1944, carrying out considerable work. He consolidated the work of its predecessor, developing further the practice of lacquer, creating schools of applied art throughout the country and organized the promotion of works from these schools.

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Quête des Bonzes avec Femmes au Bain (Monks Collecting Alms, with Woman Bathers) c.1934 Oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm signed E.Jonchere with pencil (lower right)

HKD 300,000 20

和尚和沐浴的女人 約1934 布本油畫 73 x 60 厘米 鉛筆簽署E.Jonchere（右下）

1907 - 2001

LE PHO

Lê Phổ (1907-2001) Le Pho was the tenth child in a family of twenty fathered by the senior mandarin Le Hoan. Because of his father’s status he received a cultured education, including training in brush painting.

At age 18, he was admitted into the first class of students to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Hanoi in 1925, directed by Victor Tardieu.

In 1930, Le Pho left for Paris, where he studied painting for two years. During the 30s and early 40s he painted with long, thin brushes using watercolor on silk. His subjects, including bamboo, birds and lotus flowers were traditionally Oriental.

Upon returning to Hanoi in 1933 he was made a professor at the École des Beaux Arts, a position that he held from 1933 to 1936. He returned to Paris in 1937 to serve as a delegate to the International Exposition, and also as a jury member. Le Pho remained in France, and had his first solo show there in 1938. He became an advisor to the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris and regularly exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants.

In the 1950s especially having started working with Galerie Romanet, his works revealed the influence of Pierre Bonnard and Odilon Redon, and his subjects included sensual female figures, often portrayed in interior settings. His best paintings, on silk and canvas, are gentle, poetic and Oriental in their aesthetic approach.

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Vase of Flowers and Lacquer Box 1950s Oil on silk laid on linen 90 x 60 cm Signed (lower left)

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Vase of Flowers and Lacquer Box 1950年代 麻布絹本油畫 90 x 60 厘米 左下簽署

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Deux Soeurs (Two Sisters) c.1940 Ink and gouache on silk 24.5 x 20.5 cm Signed in English and Chinese, with artist’s seal (upper left)

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兩姐妹 約1940 絹本水墨與水粉 24.5 x 20.5 厘米 中文及英文簽署、藝術家印鑒（左上）

Nature Morte au Saule Blanc (Still Life with Pussy Willow) c. 1937 - 1938 Ink and gouache on paper laid on board 23 x 31 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal (lower right)

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Nature Morte au Saule Blanc (Still Life with Pussy Willow) 約1937 - 1938 板面紙本水墨與水粉 23 x 31 厘米 英文簽署及藝術家印鑒（右下）

View from the Hilltop

View from the Hilltop

c. 1937 Oil on canvas 113 x 192 cm Signed in English and dated (lower right)

約1937 布本油畫 113 x 192 厘米 英文簽署及年份（右下）

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Mother and Child Late 1930s to early 1940s Ink and gouache on silk 46.5 x 38 cm Signed in English and Chinese, with artist’s seal (upper right)

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母親和孩子 1930年代晚期至1940年代早期 絹本水彩與水粉 46.5 x 38 厘米 英文及中文簽署、藝術家印鑒（右上）

Woman and Child 1941 Ink and gouache on silk 45 x 29 cm Signed in English and dated 41 (lower right)

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母親和孩子 1941 絹本水彩與水粉 45 x 29 厘米 英文簽署及年份41（右下）

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Elegant Woman Puring Tea c. 1930 Ink and gouache on silk 61 x 45 cm Signed in English and Chinese , with Artist’s seal (lower left)

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倒茶的女人 約1930 絹本水彩與水粉 61 x 45 厘米 英文及中文簽署、藝術家印鑒（左下）

Boquet of Lilies Ink and gouache on silk 56.5 x 74 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal (lower right)

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Boquet of Lilies 絹本水彩與水粉 56.5 x 74 厘米 英文簽署和藝術家印鑒（右下）

LE QUANG TINH

Portique de la Pagode Phuc-Kien, environ de Cholon (Pagoda Phuc-Kien’s Portico, nearby Cholon) 1930 Oil on panel 35 x 46 cm Titled (lower right), signed and dated (lower left)

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Portique de la Pagode Phuc-Kien, environ de Cholon (Pagoda Phuc-Kien’s Portico, nearby Cholon) 1930 木板油畫 35 x 46 厘米 畫作命名(右下)，簽署及日期(左下)

1911 - 1988

LE THI LUU

Lê Thị Lựu (1911-1988) Born in Tho Khoi, Ha Bac Province in 1911, Le Thi Luu joined the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts d’Indochine in 1927 and graduated in 1932. She became one of the rare notable female alumni. She developed a strong friendship with Le Pho, Mai Thu, and Vu Cao Dam as well as with her teacher Victor Tardieu. She was on a trip to France when the country was on the verge of war.

Circumstances guided her life and her artistic career. As the Suez Canal was blocked by warring forces, she had no way of returning to Vietnam. With her husband and their son, they settled near Paris, in Gentilly after a sojourn in Africa.

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Portrait of a Girl 1959 Ink and colour on silk 23.5 x 19 cm Signed and dated (lower right)

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Portrait of a Girl 1959 設色絹本水墨 23.4 x 19 厘米 簽署及年份（右下）

1914 - 2006

LUONG XUAN NHI

Lương Xuân Nhị (1914 – 2006) Luong Xuan Nhi graduated from the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts d’Indochine in 1937, he was part of the seventh session (1932 – 1937).

He holds a prominent place within 20th Century Vietnamese art history. An active participant of the Société d’Encouragement à l’Art et à l’Industrie (SADEAI, Annamese Society for the Encouragement of Art and Industry) a competition running yearly from 1934-1939 that granted bursaries to students pursuing the arts. He was also a founding member of Foyer de l’Art Annamite (FARTA, Home of Annamese Art) alongside his contemporaries To Ngoc Van, Tran Van Can, and Le Van De. Luong Xuan Nhi left behind an exceptional body of work, made all the more precious due to its rarity.

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Late Afternoon Chimes 1940 Ink and gouache on silk 45.5 x 59 cm Signed in English (lower right); signed and inscribed in Chinese (lower left)

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Late Afternoon Chimes 1940 絹本水墨與水粉 45.5 x 59 厘米 英文簽署（右下），中文簽署及題字（左下）

1906 - 1980

MAI TRUNG THU

Mai Trung Thứ (1906-1980) Mai Trung Thu was a member of the first class of the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi along with Le Pho. During his education he developed a painting style in which he painted on silk, organizing areas of bold colors into defined areas of highlight and shadow. Mai Trung Thu’s early art celebrated folk themes and the innocence of rural Vietnam, and also suggested a nostalgia for the past. In 1937, Mai Trung Thu visited France to take part in an exhibition.

He settled there for most of the rest of his life. From 1938, Mai Thu regularly participated in Fine Arts Exhibitions in Paris. He participated with Le Pho in the Grand Exhibition in Algers in 1941.

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Orchid in Dragon Vase 1979 Ink and gouache on silk, in artist’s original frame 50 cm x 34.5 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 79 in Chinese (lower right)

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蘭花與龍紋花瓶 1979 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 50 x 35.5 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份79（右下）

Fleurs (Flowers) 1975 Ink and gouache on silk, in artist’s original frame 64.5 x 48 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 75 in Chinese (lower right)

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Fleurs (Flowers) 1975 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 64.5 x 48 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份75（右下）

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Jeune Femme endormie (Young Lady Resting) 1967 Ink and gouache on silk, in artist’s original frame 16.5 x 19.5 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 67 in Chinese (upper right)

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小憩的年輕女子 1967 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 16.5 x 19.5 厘米 簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份67（右上）

Two Girls in a Landscape 1964 Ink and gouache on silk in artist’s original frame 61 x 47 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 64 in Chinese (lower left)

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風景畫中的兩個女孩 1964 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 61 x 47 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份64（左下）

Le Poète (The Poet) 1955 Ink and gouache on silk, in artist’s original frame 47 x 15.5 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 55 in Chinese (lower left); titled, signed and dated 1955 (at the back)

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Le Poète (The Poet) 1955 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 47 x 17.5 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份55（左下）； 畫作命名、簽署及年份1955（畫背）

Mére et Enfant (Mother and Child) 1955 Ink and gouache on silk in artist’s original frame 36 x 22 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 55 in Chinese (lower left); titled, signed and dated 1955 (at the back)

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Mére et Enfant (Mother and Child) 1955 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 36 x 22 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份55（左下）； 畫作命名、簽署及年份1955（畫背）

Jeune Femme Arrangeant des Fleurs (Young Woman Arranging Flowers) 1954 Ink and gouache on silk, in artist’s original frame 46.5 x 28.5 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 54 in Chinese (lower right)

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Jeune Femme Arrangeant des Fleurs (Young Woman Arranging Flowers) 1954 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 46.5 x 28.5 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份54（右下）

Woman with Child 1954 Ink and gouache on silk, in artist’s original frame 24 x 18 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 54 in Chinese (lower right)

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Woman with Child 1954 絹本水墨與水粉、藝術家製畫框 24 x 18 厘米 簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份54（右下）

Woman by the Window 1952 Ink and gouache on silk 32 x 23.5 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; and dated 52 in Chinese (upper right)

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Woman by the Window 1952 絹本水墨與水粉 32 x 23.5 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份52（右上）

Lady Reading Kim Vân Kiêu 1945 Ink and gouache on silk 45 x 55 cm Signed in English, with artist’s seal; dated 45 in Chinese (upper right)

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Lady Reading Kim Vân Kiêu 1945 絹本水墨與水粉 45 x 55 厘米 英文簽署、藝術家印鑒及中文年份45（右 上）

1908 - 1993

NGUYEN GIA TRI

Nguyễn Gia Trí (1909 – 1993) Nguyen Gia Tri entered the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine in 1928, where he mingled with other first generation artists such as Le Pho, Mai Trung Thu, Nguyen Phan Chanh.

He was one of the pioneers in transforming the craft of lacquer painting into a elevated mean of artistic expression. Combining foreign engraving and inlay methods, along with principles of European painting and new lacquer techniques for preparing, polishing and colouration, Nguyen changed the landscape of traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting. Additionally, faced with the problem of a limited colour palette to work with, Nguyen and his compatriots improvised new colours produced from organic materials such as eggshell to create a pure white. These new developments and techniques allowed lacquer painters to explore a wider range of subject matter and expressions.

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Two Ladies Lacquer on wooden board with eggshells 88 x 67 cm Signed ‘Ng Tri’ (lower right)

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兩仕女 漆木板、蛋殼 45 x 55 厘米 簽署「Ng Tri」（右下）

1892 - 1984

NGUYEN PHAN CHANH

Nguyễn Phan Chánh (1892-1984) Nguyen Phan Chanh was one of the early entrants to the newly opened French-established l’École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine in 1925, 33 years of age, older than many of his classmates, and from a different and more rural geographical region.

Chanh was praised for the fact that his artwork that illustrated Vietnamese village life and history in modest and simple terms, often interpreted as a continuation of native ‘folk’ art tradition.

The painter experienced, and was inevitably influenced, by the rapidly changing politics and external influences (particularly in education) in Vietnam during his lifetime; however, his work is unique, elegant and poignant, and is internationally recognized as such.

International exhibitions of Chanh’s silk paintings include Paris 1931, Italy in 1934, America in 1937, Japan in 1940, then in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania in 1982, and Poland and the former Soviet Union in 1983.

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Scène de Marché (Market Scene) 1937 Ink and gouache on silk 61 x 77 cm

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Scène de Marché (Market Scene) 1937 絹本水墨與水粉 61 x 77 厘米

La Marchande de Riz (The Rice Seller) 1932 Ink and gouache on silk 64.5 x 50.5 cm Signed in Chinese (middle right) and English (lower right)

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賣米的人 1932 絹本水墨與水粉 64.5 x 50.5 厘米 中文簽署（右中）、英文簽署（右下）

b. 1917

TRINH VAN

Trinh Van (b. 1917) Graduated from the 12thpromotion of the Ecole SupÊrieure des Beaux Arts d’Indochine in 1941, Trinh Van was an important innovator of lacquer painting during the 20th century. Among his peers are notable artists such as Pham Hau, Nguyen Gia Tri and Nguyen Khang, who were fascinated by the medium’s unique ability to illuminate intricate landscapes with magnificent detailing, despite lacquer being a medium that is extremely time consuming and labor intensive involving multiple stages of preparation.

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Hunting scene in the Middle region of North Vietnam 1943 Lacquer on wood, hexaptych Each: 115.5 x 26.5 cm Overall: 115.5 x 159.5 cm Signed and dated (lower right)

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狩獵圖 1943 漆木六聯畫 每部分115.5 x 26.5 厘米 整體64.5 x 50.5 厘米 簽署及年份（右下）

1897 - 1937

VICTOR TARDIEU

VICTOR TARDIEU (French, 1870-1937) In 1925 the arts scene began to evolve rapidly in Vietnam with the creation of the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts d’Indochine, a new school in Hanoi that was founded by the French painters Victor Tardieu (1870–1937) and Joseph Inguimberty (1896–1971).Together with other artists such as Nguyễn Vạn Thọ (1890–1973, better known as Nam Sơn), who was sent to Paris for a year of training in 1924 for his new position as an art instructor. The focus was on developing drawing skills and creating and disseminating knowledge of Vietnamese culture and history. The school set about creating a new cultural identity that was grafted from a modernist French pictorial language of art. The students’ training in European artistic styles eventually merged with an Oriental aesthetics and was reflected in the deployment of lacquer and silk mediums, which was truly particular to the Vietnamese. The synthesis of these elements defined an artistic language that, at the same time, bore an ambivalence towards all things foreign and modern, whilst it was itself totally contemporary and took a revisionist stance vis-à-vis tradition.

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Vietnamienne à l’enfant (Vietnamese Mother and Child) Painted between 1922 and 1925 Oil on canvas 120 x 98 cm With atelier stamp ‘Victor Tardieu’ (on canvas overlap and on the stretcher)

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Vietnamienne à l’enfant (Vietnamese Mother and Child) 1932至1935年間完成 布本油畫 120 x 98 厘米 「Victor Tardieu」印章（畫背及畫框）

Temple of Minh Mang, Hue

Temple of Minh Mang, Hue

Oil on board 27 x 21 cm With atelier stamp ‘Victor Tardieu’ (lower right)

木板油畫 27 x 21 厘米 「Victor Tardieu」印章（右下）

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1908 - 2000

VU CAO DAM

Vũ Cao Đàm (1908 – 2000) In 1926, 18 year-old Vu Cao Dam entered the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts d’Indochine as a sculpture student. As one of two students in a brand new sculpture department, Vu Cao Dam excelled in modeling busts.

Upon graduating from the fine arts school in 1931, Cao Dam received a scholarship that sent him to France to continue his studies. This journey to France would be a significant turning point in his life, as Vu Cao Dam would never return to his homeland of Vietnam. As a young artist in his formative years, the art of Paris was a fantastic source of learning and inspiration. Impressionist and Post- Impressionist elements would always find their way into Vu Cao Dam’s future creations.

Vu Cao Dam was not only influenced by Chagall and the other members of the Ecole de Paris, but by the Art Brut artists as well, including Dubuffet and Malaval. The light and atmosphere of southern France also proved to be a heavy influence on Cao Dam’s paintings.

The artist balanced the qualities of traditional Vietnamese painting, and certain chara cteristics of Western painting. With the exception of some landscapes, he concentrated his talents to figure painting. The women and young girls of his native country, along with its folklore and poems were his favorite subjects. These women are often the only dark elements within a composition of lighter colors and delicate tones.

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Deux Jeunes Filles (Two Young Girls) c. 1956 Bronze 34 x 16 x 12 cm Signed and inscribed ‘Vu Cao Dam 1/5’ (on the back of the base)

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Deux Jeunes Filles (Two Young Girls) 約1956 鑄銅 34 x 16 x 12 厘米 簽署及刻字「Vu Cao Dam 1/5」（底座背面）

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Femme à la Branche de Cerisier (Woman with Cherry Tree Blossom) 1955 Oil on panel 41 x 33 cm signed (lower left); signed, located and dated ‘vence 55’ (at the back)

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Femme à la Branche de Cerisier (Woman with Cherry Tree Blossom) 1955 木板油畫 41 x 33 厘米 簽署（左下）；簽署、地點及年份「vence 55」 （畫背）

Le Départ (The Departure) 1949 Ink and gouache on silk 93 x 145 cm Signed in English and dated 49 (lower right)

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Le Départ (The Departure) 1949 絹本水墨與水粉 93 x 145 厘米 英文簽署及年份49（右下）

Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam Dan Chu Cong Hoa (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) 1946 Bronze 6.9 cm diameter Signed in English on the neck

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Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam Dan Chu Cong Hoa (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) 1946 鑄銅 直徑 6.9 厘米 英文簽署於頸部

Une Réunion Intime (An Intimate Gathering) 1941 Gouache on silk 70 x 97 cm Signed in English and dated, with artist’s seal (centre right)

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Une Réunion Intime (An Intimate Gathering) 1941 絹本水粉 70 x 97 厘米 英文簽署、年份及藝術家印鑒（右中）

Portrait de Jeune Femme Accoudée (Portrait of a Young Girl Leaning on a Chair) 1941 Ink and gouache on silk 89.5 x 59.5 cm Signed, dated, and dedicated to Madame Hiret (lower right); signed in Chinese, with artist’s seal (upper right)

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Portrait de Jeune Femme Accoudée (Portrait of a Young Girl Leaning on a Chair) 1941 絹本水墨水粉 89.5 x 59.5 厘米 簽署、年份、此致 Madame Hiret （右下）； 中文簽署及藝術家印鑒（右上）

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Portrait d’une Jeune Fille aux Lotus (Portrait of a Young Lady with Lotus) Early 1930s Ink and gouache on silk 56 x 64 cm

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Portrait d’une Jeune Fille aux Lotus (Portrait of a Young Lady with Lotus) 1930年代早期 絹本水墨水粉 56 x 64 厘米

CONTEMPORARY ARTWORKS

b. 1972

RICHARD STREITMATTER-TRAN

Richard Streitmatter-Tran was born in 1972 in Bien Hoa, Vietnam. He received his degree in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. For the first decade of his career Richard’s artwork could be described as strictly conceptual, but after 2013 he began to focus on producing artwork that required a meticulous level of fine craftsmanship.

As a result, his current body of work is both rooted in the conceptual rigor of contemporary art theory and the skills behind traditional techniques.

His recent solo and collaborative work has been exhibited internationally including “Mekong - New Mythologies,” Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2017); “Odyssey,” Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2016); Jarkarta Ceramics Biennle, Indonesia (2016); “Secret Archipeligo,” Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2015); ‘Doubt and Believe: Exhibition of Nguyen Son and R. Streitmatter-Tran,” Womens Art Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam (2013); “Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia,” Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2012); “Guangzhou Triennale 4: Art Domain Migration,” Guangzhou, China (2011); “Institution for the Future,” Asia Triennial, Manchester, United Kingdom (2011); FAX” Para/site Art Space, Hong Kong (2010); “Transportasian: Photography from Southeast Asia,” Signapore Art Museum (2009); “Wonder,” Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2008); “Migration Addicts,” 52 Venice Biennale, Collatoral Events, Venice, Italy (2007) and “Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves,” ZKM: Center for Art and Media, Karslruhe, Germany (2007).

Richard’s artworks are part of the permanent collections of the Documenta Archives, Kassell, Germany; The Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; IILM Art Colllection, Gurgaon/New Delhi, India; RMIT University Vietnam Collection, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Post Vidai Collection, Switzerland & Vietnam.

Richard lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Vital Matter 2017 Unfired clay, vitrine, irrigation system 208 x 75 x 75 cm in 3 parts

Vital Matter 2017 未燒製陶泥、玻璃櫥櫃、灑水系統 208 x 75 x 75 厘米，三部分

The Thin Black Line 2017 Wood, speaker phones, phonographs horns, wire, dual-channel audio Dimensions variable Audio by Nhung Nguyen

The Thin Black Line 2017 木柱、喇叭、留聲機喇叭、電線、雙軌聲頻 尺寸可變

聲頻由 Nhung Nguyen 提拱

The Thin Gold Line 2017 Watercolor and gouche on silk, coconut husk fiber Rope 1250 x 5 x 3 cm, Painting 18 x 15 cm

The Thin Gold Line 2017 絹本水彩水墨、椰果殼纖維 繩長 1250 x 5 x 3 厘米; 畫作 18 x 15 厘米

The Gates of Hell (Cổng Địa Ngục) 2017 Iron, steel 200 x 150 x 5 cm

The Gates of Hell (Cổng Địa Ngục) 2017 鐵、鋼 200 x 150 x 5 厘米

Excavation/Elevation (After Champa) 2017 Fondant, gumpaste, styrofoam 92 x 51 x 51 cm

Excavation/Elevation (After Champa) 2017 翻糖、糖花膏、泡沫聚苯乙烯 92 x 51 x 51 厘米

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 1 2017 Watercolor and gouache on silk 66 x 46 cm

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 1 2017 絹本水彩水墨 66 x 46 厘米

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 2 2017 Watercolor and gouache on silk 66 x 46 cm

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 2 2017 絹本水彩水墨 66 x 46 厘米

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 3 2017 Watercolor and gouache on silk 66 x 46 cm

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 3 2017 絹本水彩水墨 66 x 46 厘米

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 4 2017 Watercolor and gouache on silk 66 x 46 cm

Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) No. 4 2017 絹本水彩水墨 66 x 46 厘米

Our Lady of La Vang Đức Mẹ La Vang) 66 x 46 cm Colored acrylic 2017

Our Lady of La Vang Đức Mẹ La Vang) 2017 設色亞加力膠板 66 x 46 厘米

The Blue 2017 Watercolor on silk with black thread 26 x 15 cm

The Blue 2017 絹本水彩、黑線 26 x 15 厘米

Fish Head Red

Fish Head Red

2017 Watercolor on silk 19 x 27 cm

2017 絹本水彩 19 x 27 厘米

The Closing of a Chapter 2017 Watercolor on silk 18 x 27 cm

The Closing of a Chapter 2017 絹本水彩 19 x 27 厘米

Flowing Nape

Flowing Nape

2017 Watercolor on silk with black thread 13.5 x 34.5 cm

2017 絹本水彩、黑線 13.5 x 34.5 厘米

Parallel Braids 2017 Watercolor on silk with black thread 30.5 x 25 cm

Parallel Braids 2017 絹本水彩、黑線 30.5 x 25 厘米

The Endangered 2017 Watercolor on silk 20 x 27 cm

The Endangered 2017 絹本水彩 20 x 27 厘米

Hazard 2017 Watercolor on silk 17 x 27 cm

Hazard 2017 絹本水彩 17 x 27 厘米

Mai Eve 2017 Watercolor on silk with black thread 22 x 16.5 cm

Mai Eve 2017 絹本水彩、黑線 22 x 16.5 厘米

Contemporary Forays into Vietnam’s Art Historical Past A conversation between Dr. Nora A. Taylor and artist Richard Streitmatter-Tran

So when it comes to art history, unless I’m preparing for a presentation or lecture, in everyday life, I see all history as somehow relating to art history and taking a more holistic view. However, when confronted by Art History in capitals, there certainly are gaps in my knowledge. I have to confess that my knowledge of Vietnam’s art history has been largely restricted to contemporary practices.

Which is why this exhibition posed a few challenges for me. Despite living and working in the arts in Vietnam for nearly fifteen years, the modernist works were something I never fully immersed myself into. For one, I naturally tend to gravitate towards realist works and impressionist, or expressionist works, and largely abstract/formalist art is something that leaves me a bit cold. When the gallery first approached me to consider this show I had my caveats - my limited knowledge of modernist works from Vietnam and my own biases to what I personally like and am inspired by.

The gallery gave me full license to do what I wanted for this exhibition and working without any real restrictions in fact allowed me to become closer to the some of the master artists’ works.

In particular, Nguyễn Phan Chánh’s works resonated with me more deeply. As sort of the odd one out, his works on silk were the most realist while being paradoxically also the most abstract. He painted women that were working, living, aging as opposed to idealized women aloofly thumbing through books on classic literature or smelling flowers. His style also employed large amounts of black which for me held the same kind of power that I first felt when I saw Robert Motherwell’s abstract work for the first time. The more I studied his works, the more appreciation I had for Chanh’s art and it was later that I decided to create a series of four works on silk, Configurations in Black (After Nguyễn Phan Chánh) (2017), responding to his bold use of black.

As a show that aims to connect the contemporary with the modern practices of artists in Vietnam dating back to to the establishment of the the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine from 1925-1945, I had to confront my relation to the history of art in Vietnam really for the first time.

As a contemporary artist working in Vietnam, what does art history mean to you? And more specifically, what does the art history of Vietnam say to you?

I’ve always been interested in history in general and not just related to the arts. Over the last years particularly in deep histories, on cosmic and geological time scales. Looking at history as collective human experience, some of the oldest evidence of human thinking can be traced to what we assume to be an artistic, or at least, visual experience, from the earliest human representations on cave walls to Venus figurines, art seems inextricably and intrinsically linked to being human. I just read an article online about the moment when art critic Arthur Danto saw Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes and declared the end of art. What he meant was, that art as a narrative experience had ended since one could say that there was no longer a differentiation between the boxes as art and their status as simply boxes. Since that moment, we have seen a recurrence of these ideas where art rises again from the ashes to inform our human development, the understanding of our world and our place in it.

Art is always changing for me as well. I started out in a very immaterial practice with my background in performance and new media. Craftsmanship and object making weren’t on my radar in my early years as an artist. Now these are the very things that consume me. It has always been that delicate balance between the conceptual and material. As I’ve matured as an artist, the ways I learn have changed too. Tactile knowledge, or knowledge by doing rather than the theoretical as a starting point, have become more enjoyable to me. And this is where history comes back in.

The history of color is the history of chemistry, which is the history (or part of the history) of materiality. The same can be said of ceramics, painting, even cooking. The earliest ages of human development are named after these advances of human knowledge from stone to copper, bronze and iron.

I am interested in the materials that artists use in Vietnam, and their relation to content. It seems that artists from the colonial period used oil, watercolor and gouache to depict local themes but they also painted on silk and used lacquer as a medium to signify the “local.”

What is your relationship to “local” materials and how does it influence your content?

I alluded to this a bit earlier, but my practice is increasingly become a material one. Sculpture and installation tends to occupy a large part of my work, but I’ve been painting more and will continue to develop 2D works. I feel there is some connection between material and mastery; and the process of being able to master a material that is, to have an intimate knowledge for how it reacts. I’ve worked with both traditional and non-traditional materials (sugar, bánh tráng rice paper) to create sculptural works. In fact in this exhibition I’m using traditional earthenware clay for some sculptures and with others using cake. The material on one hand must satisfy itself as an object (form, longevity/ephemerality, etc.) and on the other hand it must be appropriate for the concept of the work. I’ve always been an advocate of the artist/artisan relationship. There’s so much that contemporary artists can learn from artisans generally, and in Vietnam particularly, there still remain villages that for centuries have specialized in one commodity or material from ceramics to woodworking, textiles, embroidery, paper making, lacquer and bronze. These artisans have inherited histories of material knowledge passed down from generations. It’s something that amazes me and I’m a strong advocate of continuing these sometimes dying traditions. Losing this knowledge is at the same level of catastrophe as losing traditional medicine in the Amazon as local peoples lose their land and language. Artists sometimes do not have the patience for slow learning or mastery. While being taught traditional lacquer techniques at the university, some have opted for chemically manufactured instant lacquer to avoid the demands of time and money that commercial success imposes.

namese artists worked. As a relatively translucent material, watercolor has to be applied in several layers to build up opacity. I found out that in traditional Chinese silk paintings, after the silk was sized for painting, the traditional artists would often paint a black and white value under-painting on the reverse side of the silk. This Gongbi technique was something I used in each of my silk paintings on display. I’m not sure if the Vietnamese artists did this, but it helped me achieve the look that I wanted. I researched how silk was traditionally sized and I make my own sizing with two parts rabbit skin glue to one part alum. I make it and then store it in my refrigerator rather than buying the synthetic sizing glue sold in local stores that even the students and faculty at the Fine Arts University use. For another work, I am collaborating with a traditional blacksmith, another occupation becoming increasingly rare. For me, it’s about knowing as much as I can about each process. At times a traditional way of doing things works for me, and at others it doesn’t .

So while I appreciate traditions, I am not conservative about them. Traditions must be living ones.

Did you draw your figures from a model or did you draw them from imagination?

Your drawings reflect the classic realist style in which Vietnamese painters were trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine. What was your own academic training in art?

I wanted to set a huge challenge for this exhibition and dive off the deep end. That challenge was to do a series of silk paintings since this medium has so much history in Vietnam and there are several silk paintings in this exhibition. First, I had absolutely no experience in silk painting when I proposed it and in fact, had never really been attracted to the medium before. I’m much more personally inclined towards contemporary figurative painting in oil with painters like Michael Borremans. When I did my first silk painting, I discovered that you could still achieve really delicate thin lines that looked almost real. There were silk threads frayed at the ends and I was about to clip them off when I realized that I could do something to give the painting some more dimensionality by actually sewing in a black thread into the painting itself, to create a “stray hair”. Perhaps it was the sculptor in me.

My academic background was split between design and art and for the large part of my studies, I split my time evenly between the two. I originally applied to art school to get training in graphic design to be a web designer during the Internet boom in the late 90s where recent graduates were being hired with amazing salaries with cool web start-ups. That whole economy sort of crashed while I was in school. I also had transferred into art school with a lot of transfer credits from a previous college. In order to maximize the time I could spend in university and not finish early, and take full advantage of the tuition assistance I was receiving from the government for having served three years of active military service in the US Army, I decided to double major.

And that’s how art entered into my life. The arts program I was enrolled in was called the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at the Massachusetts College of Art. This unique program was established in the late sixties at the advent of all of these new forms of contemporary expression - including performance, art and technology (new media), and sound art. It was also a program that took in a lot of hybrids - those painters that wanted to experiment with performance, sculptors who wanted to work with sound - where they couldn’t receive helpful critiques from the more formal structures of the painting and sculpture departments for example. Just as in my more recent focal shifts, I experienced another major change while in school. I was mainly concentrating on new media. Since it was a time of the ascent of digital media, I wanted to work with computation and art. While attending MassArt, I cross-registered for courses at MIT and was able to do an undergraduate research program at the MIT Media Lab. As exciting as it was, I really didn’t have the aptitude for it and was advised to explore other directions by the professor there. A bit heart broken, I decided to move away from the screen and I had a moment of despair. It was then that I realized that all I had left was my mind and body, so, working with faculty at MassArt, I decided to do my first “body” work: a nude performance. It was an epiphany. I discovered that I had a natural aptitude for performance and spent the latter part of my education working on performance while continuing to take other courses at MIT, including performance with Joan Jonas, where I could develop ideas and test them out on art school students at my own school.

But like many students at art schools in America where conceptual development often receives priority over craft, I graduated without many manual skills. I could easily develop ideas, but would struggle to make them myself. After years of having things made for me, and being disappointed with the results and in myself, I decided to start from scratch and dedicate myself to drawing. The slow pace of learning and improving was extremely satisfying, like a long burn. From drawing I moved on to sculpture, for which I surprisingly had a natural talent. I find drawing and sculpture closely related whereas I find drawing and painting entirely different.

I prefer to draw models either from life or photo references. I rarely draw or paint from imagination since I’m interested more in the process of seeing, as opposed to thinking, when it comes to the figurative work. It’s not to say that there is no thinking involved in drawing, but it’s more problem solving than creating narratives or stories from one’s imagination. Drawing for me is usually a pathway to fleshing it out in sculpture later. I’m not a character designer or illustrator, where the imagination in drawing is important. Strangely enough, I usually sculpt from imagination, on site and intuitively, having figured out many of the issues in drawings before.

You use black thread in a way that seems to make both a material connection to fabric and cloth and a visual reference to hair. What was your intention there?

Why did you title your work that seems to reference the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, “Gates of Hell”?

Yes, one can still find vestiges of colonial era design and architecture throughout Vietnam, and the ironwork from that era still continues to be used today for gates and window bars on private homes. The current day designs aren’t as ornate and tend to be more Chinese influenced than French. The title of this work is a direct reference to the work of the same title by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), who had a specific relation to the colony of Indochina. In 1906, he visited the Colonial Exposition in Marseille and discovered the beauty and grace of Cambodian Royal dancers.

After sketching them furiously, he declared that Cambodian dancers were his last passion. Indochina was in his mind until the end. I have two phrases on the Gates of Hell: Colonialism and Creativity and the Vietnamese translation of “The Gates of Hell” or Cổng Địa Ngục. I wanted to reference the philosophy behind colonialism, the idea of the Mission Civilisatrice or the belief that the colonial mission was a “civilizing” one that pointed to advances in science, tropical medicine and even culture as evidence. As a part of the empire, at least in theory (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité) and certainly in the case of the Vietnamese art students at the Ecole des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine, colonial subjects were educated and indoctrinated into the notion of what was French and as such would travel to France to continue their training and live as free equals. This might not have been fully true nor enjoyed by those privileged colonial subjects, but it was certainly a different attitude than the colonial exploitations of the other Europeans where slavery and human trafficking were cornerstones. But even with this rosy colored vision of the colonial mission, it was still an exploitative one and that’s why I chose to put Gates of Hell in Vietnamese. The proclamation in French of colonial saviors that inspired new forms of creativity needed to be counterbalanced with what many of the Vietnamese thought to be unjust. The Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, founded in 1925, closed in 1945. Nine years later, the Vietnamese defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu driving the French from Vietnam, so certainly this undercurrent was fully felt even during the establishment of the school.

One of your works represents Đức Mẹ or Our Lady of La Vang, a figure that stands for the persecution of Vietnamese Catholics. You chose a different material for that work, cut acrylic panel. What made you decide to use that instead of silk?

Although now I am an atheist, I was raised catholic and even attended catechism classes until I was 18. So, I’m really familiar with Catholic stories and imagery. Our Lady of La Vang is one of many “Marian” apparitions that have occurred worldwide. As the story goes, after an edict to persecute them, Vietnamese Catholics retreated into a forest and became ill. An apparition similar to the Virgin Mary appeared to them and told them to boil leaves of a certain plant to cure themselves. Lady of La Vang thus stands as a savior to the persecuted Vietnamese. Furthermore, there are several Mother and Child paintings made by the modern masters on display in this show, many of them are on silk. I wanted to try something different. Originally, I wanted to make it in stained glass as a direct connection to Catholic aesthetics. The idea was to use glass paint but I was disappointed with the results. Then, I decided to paint on an acrylic panel but it also looked terrible. So, I decided to cut paper as a mock-up and was pleased with how that looked - almost Matisse-like. I took those paper shapes and cut them in acrylic on a jigsaw. We have a recognizable iconography but made with an industrial material. Even for me it’s a bit jarring given my preference towards the realist, but it provides a good counterpoint to communicating traditional narratives in nontraditional materials.

You stated that you admire Nguyễn Phan Chánh’s works on silk and are attracted to that material. Nguyen Phan Chanh is often praised both for his mastery of the medium but also for his compositions. Unlike some of his contemporaries, such as Vu Cao Dam, his female figures do not appear to be idealized, that is they seem to have stepped straight out of rural villages. They wear simple clothes and therefore appear quite “real.” Vietnamese society has changed quite a bit since the colonial period, but did you think about social class or social milieu when you looked at Phan Chánh’s work?

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I do appreciate the fact that Chánh’s works tended to emerge from his observations of real life. As I’ve read, Chánh was also somewhat of an outsider with respect that he did not come from the North and was older than many of his peers at the Ecole des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine, which was somewhat my experience in art school having started almost a decade older than many of my fellow students. So perhaps I can identify somewhat with trying to find oneself artistically in school as an adult. However, it was more Chánh’s style that attracted me. It was his own, and much less derivative than even some of his more well-known colleagues.

I’m naturally attracted to the more realist approach in painting. I admire his balance of earthtones and black. His paintings are extremely well composed. Depicting social class was his struggle although it was not the issue that comes first to me when admiring his body of work.

I couldn’t help but notice that your sketch after the Cham tower looks a bit like the preliminary sketches for your collaborative work with Chaw Ei Thein, September Sweetness, 2008, which was an architectural sculpture made of sugar modeled after a Burmese temple. I wonder if you were thinking about, as in the case with Myanmar, the Vietnamese government’s relationship to its own archaeological vestiges and its own cultural heritage?

I’ve always been attracted to the Hindu-influenced Buddhist aesthetics of Southeast Asia and have been researching these forms for nearly 10 years now, from the Bagan temples in Myanmar to the kbach ornamentation of the Khmer. I always thought that if I were to get tattoos, they would come from this tradition (and no, I don’t have any yet, haha). I think that there’s much to learn from the remaining architectural and archeological artifacts of cultures that existed/thrived long ago. In the case of deteriorating ruins in both Myanmar and Vietnam, it’s probably less a question of not acknowledging their conservation but having the resources and knowledge to actually make it effectively actionable, particularly when there are likely more urgent issues rang-

ing from education, environmental protection. I would love to see more done on the conservation/ research front but some of that has to be driven by the people themselves. There needs to be an interest first. As with much of my work in the last years, it tends to emerge from a personal connection, or love of this style, rather than a didactic or polemical one. September Sweetness was located in a public space during the biennale and was certainly a political work. Now nearly ten years later, my struggle tends to be with myself instead of external issues. This has been the greater challenge for me in terms of finding growth in my practice, but also introspective work is often harder to package. I’m happy for this exhibition since it forced me in many ways to confront a period of Vietnamese art in which I really had no interest at all. And by looking at this period of artists more closely, I found connections that would have never emerged if this opportunity hadn’t been presented.

As an art historian of Vietnam, I can confidently identify what I would call Vietnam’s masterpieces of art or master painters including those in this exhibition. But, I am also aware, as I have written elsewhere, that these artists may never be receive proper recognition in world art history. Still, there is a sense of the preciousness of certain techniques and cultural specificity in the work of Vietnamese modern masters that may someday be lost. Do you think that inviting a contemporary artist to respond to the work of past artists points to this sense of loss or on the contrary to their relevance?

It’s a good question and I don’t really have an answer for this. There are probably a myriad of factors that go into why certain work is acknowledged worldwide and much of it has to do with the power structures of the art world itself, and yes, your essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Vietnamese Artists”, is now a legend ! Vietnam is the 14th largest country in the world by population, and I’ve read that Nguyễn is the most common surname in Australia and yet, its influence worldwide tends to be diminished. To be honest, as I’ve said earlier, the works for these modern masters had very little to do with my practice before this exhibition. I’ve never felt an attachment to the work, particularly ones that seemed to be too derivative of more well known works from the West. I think now perhaps I was too dismissive. Having been with these works now for some time, I’m beginning to see my own practice in relation to these works in a different light. I cannot think of Nguyễn Phan Chánh’s gentle powerful blacks without remembering the awe I felt when I saw Robert Motherwell’s work in MoMA. I think of Victor Tardieu coming to “bring western art” to Vietnam and my own experience developing the first contemporary video art course at Đại Học Mỹ Thuật (The Fine Arts University in Ho Chi Minh City) in 2003 and recalling the feeling of adventure of treading into new territories. If it’s any consolation, I think Vietnam and its artists, both past and present, are on the ascent; not perhaps because of the power structures, or perhaps as a result and/or in spite of them, but more on the merit of their work, their lives now being reconsidered. The exhibition is titled Departures. Departures having been freed in some ways from a monolithic reading of their place in history with a new engagement and interest among the public for the amazing lives these artists lived.

Dr. Nora A. Taylor is the Alsdorf Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of Painters in Hanoi: An Ethnography of Vietnamese Art (Singapore University Press, 2009) as well as numerous essays on Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian and Vietnamese Art.

BIOGRAPHY

Richard STREITMATTER-TRAN b. 1972 born in Bien Hoa, Vietnam Currently works and lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2003 2009

B.F.A. Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM), Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, USA Certificate in Tertiary teaching, RMIT International University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2007

Solo Exhibitions 2015 2013 2009 2004

A Material History of Man and Animal, Dia Projects, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Material Turn, Art Space Hue, Paja, Korea Where There is Left, Let There Be Right, Kandada Art Space, Tokyo, Japan Body Frame/ Video Frame, L’espace - French Cultural Center of Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam

2006

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017 2016 2016 2015

2013 2012 2011

2010

2009

2008

Mekong - New Mythologies, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong Odyssey: Navigating Nameless Seas, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Sovereign Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Christie’s Hong Kong, Hong Kong The 2nd Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale, Indonesia Secret Archipelago, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France A Beautiful New World, curated by Eleonora Battiston, 2nd Nanjing International Art Festival, Nanjing, China Eagles Fly, Sheep Flock: Biographical Imprints—Artistic Practices in Southeast Asia, curated by Khim Ong, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore Doubt and Believe: Exhibition of Nguyen Son and R. Streitmatter-Tran, Vietnamese Women’s Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Video, An Art, A History 1965-2010: A Selection from the Centre Pompidou and Singapore Art Museum Collections, Singapore Art Museum Institution for the Future, Asia Triennial Manchester, United Kingdom Independent Art Project: Art Domain Migration, ASEAN and China, The Forth Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China Emerging Wave: ASEAN-Korea Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul and GoEun Museum of Photography, Busan, Korea FAX, Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong Transportasian: Photography from Southeast Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Time Ligaments: Contemporary Vietnamese Art, curated by Zoe M. Butt and Ding Q. Le, 10 Chancery Lane, Hong Kong Wonder, 2nd Singapore Biennale, Singapore Post-Doi Moi: Vietnamese Modern and Contemporary Art in Southest Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore The Jungle Performance, Asiatopia Performance Art Festival – 10th Anniversary, Bangkok, Thailand

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

Migration Addicts, 52nd Venice Biennale, Collateral Events, Venice, Italy Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, ZKM: Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany PRANA: Art, Light, Space, The Art Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Exquisite Crisis and Encounters, curated by Yong Soon Min, Asia/Pacific/American Institute, New York University, New York, USA Les Mois de L’image, Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Belief. A.Art and L/Z, Singapore Biennale 2006, Signapore Reflow. The Loudest Sound, Java Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Globalization and Locality, Asia Art Now 2006, Arario Beijing, Beijing, China Globalization and Locality, Asia Art Now 2006, Ssamzie Space, Seoul, South Korea 600 Images, Six City Exhibition in Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, London, Los Angeles, and Berlin 7th Asiatopia Performance Art Festival, Queen’s Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1st Pochean Asian Art Festival, Pocheon, South Korea Offside, curated by Brian Duggan, The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin, Ireland Surreal Politik, Gallery Without Walls, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Chúng Ta Là Ai, Land of Milk and Honey, Lawrence S. Ting Building Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Gwangju Biennale 2005, Gwuangju, South Korea Missed Connections, Net Video Lab, Art Network Asia, Singapore Orange Lounge, Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), Newport Beach, California, USA Young Vietnamese Artists Exhibition, Bing Quoi Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Fra, Evos Arts, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA Mobius 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Mobius Art Space, Boston, Massachusetts, USA KY UC, Bakalar Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston Massachusetts, USA How Not to Speak, Studio for Interrelated Media, Massachusetts Colleg of Art Boston, Massachusetts, USA Topology/Topography: Issues in Surveillance Spaces, Berwick Research Institute, Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA Culture Clubbing, Tremont Gallery, Boston Massachusetts, USA Interrogative Design Workshop, MIT Visual Arts Department, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Fundamentals of Computational Media Group Exhibition, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge Massachusetts, USA

Richard STREITMATTER-TRAN 1970年出生於越南河內 現工作與生活於越南胡志明市 2003 2009

藝術學士，互動媒體工作室，麻省藝術與設計學院，波士頓，美國 高等教育教學認證，越南RMIT國際大學，胡志明市，越南

2007

個展 2015 2013 2009 2004

《人和動物的物質史》，Dia 計劃，胡志明市，越南 《物質轉換》，Hue 藝術空間，坡州市，韓國 《哪裏是左，讓它變成右》，Kandada 藝術空間，東京，日本 《身體框架／錄像框架》，L’Espace法國文化中心，河內，越南

重要群展 2017 2016

2015

2013 2012 2011

2010

2009 2008

2006

2005 《湄公河 －新的神話》，香港藝術中心，香港 《奧德賽：探索無名的海》，新加坡藝術博物館，新加坡 《2016 Sovereign傑出入圍藝術家展》，香港佳士得，香港 《第二屆雅加達當代陶瓷雙年展》，印度尼西亞 《秘密的列島》，巴黎東京宮，巴黎，法國 《美麗新世界》，由Eleonora Battiston策展，第二屆南京國際藝術節，南京，中國 《鷹單飛 羊群集：傳記印記－東南亞藝術實踐》，由王佩琴策展，藝術登陸新加坡， 新加坡 《懷疑和相信：阮山、陳德良展》，越南女性博物館，河內，越南 《當代赤道全景》新加坡美術館，新加坡 《錄像、藝術、歷史 1965-2010: 龐畢度中心和新加坡美術館精選展》，新加坡 美術館 《未來機構》，曼彻斯特亞洲藝術三年展，英國 《獨立藝術計劃：版圖移動，東盟和中國》，第四屆廣州雙年展，廣州，中國 《新浪潮：東盟韓國當地攝影展》，hangaram藝術博物館，首爾藝術中心，首爾和 GoEun攝影博物館，釜山，韓國 《FAX》，Para Site藝術空間，香港 《輸送：東南亞攝影》，由Zoe M. Butt、Ding Q. Le策展，10號贊善里畫廊，香港 《時間韌帶：當地越南藝術》，Unicaja基金會，阿爾梅里亞，西班牙 《奇幻》，第二屆新加坡雙年展，新加坡 《後－Doi Moi：在東南亞的越南當代及近現代藝術》，新加坡藝術博物館，新加坡

2004

2003

2002

2001

《遷徙嗜好者》，第52屆威尼斯雙年展，附隨活動，威尼斯，義大利 《藝術溫躍層：亞洲新浪潮》，ZKM媒體與藝術中心，卡爾斯魯厄，德國 《PRANA：藝術、光、空間》，藝術中心，朱拉隆功大學，曼谷，泰國 《精緻的危機與邂逅》，由Yong Soon Min策展，亞洲／太平洋／美國機構， 紐約大學，紐約，美國 Les Mois de L’image，胡志明市藝術博物館，胡志明市，越南 《信念》，第一屆新加坡雙年展，新加坡 《回流。最響亮的聲音》，Java畫廊，金邊，柬埔寨 《本地及全球化，當代亞洲藝術》，阿拉里奧北京藝術空間，北京，中國 《本地及全球化，當代亞洲藝術》，Ssamize藝術空間，首爾，韓國 《第七屆亞洲表演藝術節》，Queen’s 畫廊，曼谷，泰國 《第一屆抱川亞洲藝術節》，抱川，韓國 《越位》，由Brian Duggan策展，休雷恩市立現代藝術美術館，都柏林，愛爾蘭 《超現實政治》，沒有牆的畫廊，吉隆坡，馬來西亞 《我們是誰，牛奶和蜜蜂的土地》，Lawrence.S，Ting Building 畫廊，胡志明市， 越南 《第九屆光州雙年展》，光州，韓國 《失去的連接》，網絡視頻實驗室，亞洲藝術網絡，新加坡 《橘郡休息室》，加州橘郡藝術博物館，紐波特海灘，加州，美國 《越南青年藝術家作品展》，賓富奧公園，胡志明市，越南 《從》，Evos藝術學院，洛厄爾，馬薩諸塞州，美國 《默比烏斯二十五週年展》，默比烏斯藝術空間，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州，美國 《KY UC》，Bakalar畫廊，馬薩諸塞州藝術學院，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州，美國 《如何不說話》，相關媒體工作室，馬薩諸塞州藝術學院，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州， 美國 《拓撲／地形學：監視空間中的問題》，柏威克研究所，洛克斯伯里，馬薩諸塞州， 美國 《文化俱樂部》，Tremont畫廊，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州，美國 《疑問設計研討會》，麻省理工學院視覺藝術系，劍橋，馬薩諸塞州，美國 《運算媒體組合展覽基礎》，麻省理工學院媒體實驗室，劍橋，馬薩諸塞州，美國

獎項

Awards 2016 2012 2010 2008 2005 2003 2000

Finalist, Sovereign Art Price, Hong Kong Alumni Award for Oustanding Creative Achievement, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader & Delegate, Jakarta, Indonesia Teacher of the Year Award, RMIT University, Vietnam Recipient, Martell Contemporary Asia Art Research Grant, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong Recipeint, Ron Plazeck Theater Arts Award, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Recipeint, Roy H. Brown Scholarship, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Public Collections Documenta Archives, Kassell, Germany Leo Shih, Taiwan The Singapore Art Museum, Singapore IILM Art Collection, Gurgaon/New Delhi, India RMIT University Vietnam Collection, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Post Vidai Collection, Switzerland & Vietnam

2016 2012 2010 2008 2005 2003 2000

入圍Sovereign傑出亞洲藝術獎，香港 作為校友獲得傑出創意成就獎，馬薩諸塞州藝術學院，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州，美國 亞洲協會亞洲21年青領袖及代表，雅加達，印度尼西亞 年度老師獎，墨爾本皇家理工大學，越南 獲獎者，Martell亞洲當代藝術研究獎助計畫，亞洲藝術文獻庫，香港 獲獎者，Ron Plazeck劇院藝術獎，馬薩諸塞州藝術學院，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州，美國 獲獎者，Roy H. Brown獎學金，馬薩諸塞州藝術學院，波士頓，馬薩諸塞州，美國

公共收藏 文獻檔案館，卡塞爾, 德國 施俊兆收藏，台灣 新加坡藝術博物館，新加坡 IILM藝術收藏，古爾岡／新德里，印度 RMIT越南大學收藏，胡志明市，越南 Post Vidai 收藏，瑞士及越南

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