marni muir gallery
112 S. Washington St. Seattle, WA 98104
Thanh and Hai May 08
May 1 - 31, 2008
A Cultural Exchange:
Le Ngoc Thanh & Le Duc Hai
from Hue, Vietnam
Private Preview Reception:
Wednesday, April 30, 6-8 PM
First Thursday Reception:
Thursday, May 1, 6-8 PM
Gallery Hours: Wed - Sat, 12 - 5
Special Peacetree Presentation:
Saturday, May 24, 3: - 5pm
These emerging, Vietnamese twin brother artists have enjoyed succesful exhibitions of their paintings and performances in London, Paris, Rennes, St. Malo and Berlin. Thanh and Hai have also exhibited work at one of the major galleries in Vietnam, Apricot Gallery in Hanoi. They were also chosen as one of 58 artists out of a total of 1,000 worldwide to have their art displayed in the National Museum of Finland.
Thanh and Hai mainly paint on wood using lacquer. Vietnamese Lacquer art started and developed over a long period of time. From the beginning, people in Vietnam used lacquer for ancient architecture projects such as pagodas, mausoleums, imperial palaces and temples. People also used this technique to decorate furniture. Ever since Vietnam became more outward looking in the 1980s and 1990s, artists have been searching for new ways to develop the lacquer art into the same 'real' art as the other paintings in the world. Thanh and Hai have definitely taken this technique and made it their own.
A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE FOUNDATION: PeaceTrees Vietnam, AN ORGANIZATION co-founded by JERILYN BRUSSEAU as a legacy to reverse the devastation of the war by clearing landmine fields which continually maim and kill children on a regular basis, plant trees on the cleared fields and rebuild villages.
PeaceTrees Vietnam is an international, humanitarian non-government organization (NGO) leading efforts for a landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) safe environment in Vietnam. Our mission is to work alongside the Vietnamese people to build the capacity for a safe and healthy future for the children and families of Quang Tri Province, the most severely bombed battleground in the history of the world. Our efforts include sponsoring landmine and UXO removal, mine risk education, landmine survivor assistance, environmental restoration and friendship-building through citizen diplomacy tree-planting trips, and economic sponsorship through micro-credit loans.
To learn more about what PeaceTrees Vietnam does, please contact their office at 206-842-6136 info@peacetreesvietnam.org, www.peacetreesvietnam.org
HISTORY
JUNE 2005
New work of TOM _ THANH _ HAI “CASINO” Hue.
OCTOBER 2004
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” Amsterdam, France
SEPTEMBER 2004
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” Vérosvres, France
Paintings exhibition “ THANH _ HAI ” Paris, France
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” Paris, France
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” Rennes, France
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” Strasbourg,
Paintings exhibition “ THANH _ HAI ” Paris, France
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” in Saint-Malo, France
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” in Nancy, France
AUGUST 2004
Paintings exhibition “ HUY_BANG _ THANH _ HAI ” Bangkok, Thailand
JUNE 2004
Performance” Hue, Rennes, Marseille” New space art gallery Hue, Viet Nam
JUNE 2004
Paintings exhibition “ CUONG _ THANH _ HAI 1st” Hue, Viet Nam
MAY 2004
Paintings “ TWINS” exhibition Hawaii, USA
NOVEMBER 2003
Video arts “ Lin –up” Hue, Viet Nam
SEPTEMBER 2003
Performance & Music “ Lin-up Ha Noi, Hue” Hue college of arts Hue, Viet Nam
JUNE 2003
Performance & Music “ Metting Ha Noi, Hue, Hoi An, Sai Gon” New space art gallery Hue, Viet Nam
DECEMBER 2002
Paintings exhibition in Hue, Viet Nam
NOVEMBER 2002
Installation & video “ WINDOWS TO ASIA” Hanoi, Viet Nam
AUGUST 2002
Painting exhibition in Saint-Malo, France.
JULY 2002
Paintings exhibition in Berlin, Germany
Paintings exhibition in Nancy, France
Paintings exhibition in Paris, France
Paintings exhibition ‘WORKING” in Rennes, France
Paintings exhibition at “HALDON” Gallery in Lon Don, England
MAY 2002
Paintings exhibition “ RED DREAM” at Ancient Gallery, Hanoi, Viet Nam
NOVEMBER 2001
Paintings exhibition “ PHILIP MORIT” in Hanoi and Hue, Viet Nam
SEPTEMBER 2001
The lacquer paintings exhibition “XANH DO VANG” in Hue, Viet Nam
AUGUST 2001
Art Gallery at YASAKA HOTEL NHA TRANG- VIET NAM
The lacquer paintings exhibition La Baule, France.
JULY 2001
The lacquer paintings exhibition: Cologne Germany
The Paintings Exhibition Rennes, France
The Paintings Exhibition Saint Chammond, France
FEBRUARY 2001
Lacquer Paintings Exhibition Ana Mandara Resort Nha Trang Viet Nam
OCTOBER 2000
Lacquer Paintings Exhibition New space Art Gallery Hue Viet Nam
SEPTEMBER 2000
National Painting Exhibition Hanoi, Viet Nam
MAY 2000
Painting Exhibition Tokyo, Japan
MARCH 2000
French – Vietnamese Dragon & Painting Festival Hue, Viet Nam
MAY 1999
Working painting exhibition Hue Viet Nam
MARCH 1999
Exhibition at Gallery Latelie in Hanoi, Viet Nam
SEPTEMBER 1998
Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Chaing Mai, Thailand
NOVEMBER 1998
The Painting Exhibition in United Emirates
AUGUST 1998
Exhibition at the Faculty of fine Art Chaing Mai, Thailand
MARCH 1998
Exhibition in United Emirates
Exhibition in Saigon, Viet Nam
JANUARY 1998
The Painting Exhibition, Khemer Art, Bangkok, Thailand
DECEMBER 1997
Installation Exhibition Hue, Viet Nam
MARCH 1997
Twin Painting Exhibition Hue, Viet Nam
SEPTEMBER 1996
Painting Exhibition Hue, Viet Nam
SEPTEMBER 1995
The Painting Exhibition Hue, Viet Nam
OCTOBER 1994
The Painting Exhibition in Hue, Viet Nam
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LACQUER PAINTING
Vietnamese lacquer came from the North. This is the place granted for the art the plant producing paint used in the lacquer art because of its convenience of the weather. The manufacturing process from the rude paint to the paint using the lacquer art now was a long time and depended on the skill of the artist. The materials that the ancients used in lacquer composing Then paint, cockroach-wing color paint, red color taken from red soil Basin, gold, silver (to make it thinner and paste into the choosing places).
The 1st artist brought lacquer material from handicraft arts into art painting is the late artist Nguyen Gia Tri.
And after his generation, Vietnamese artist has been searching for new ways to develop the lacquer art to be a real art as the other art paintings in the world.
We are artists who are studying and searching for the lacquer art material and we also try to find the new technique for our painting.
Our lacquer painting has been made with the following process:
Firstly, we chooses wooden boards with suitable size for the painting lay-out, we cover them with paint for the first layer and when they become dry, the board will be covered with a silk clothe to prevent the affection of the weather. After that 10 layers of paint and clay will cover them. After one layer, they will be sharpened to become flat. This process will last 3 months. After that boards will be covered with 3 layers of lacquer and it takes a month to complete this process. The boards now are called VOC.
We use VOC to create our works. The time for this process depends on the artists, as there will many painting technical will be presented. We carry in our works many new technical such as heaping up, presenting the lacquer color same as the water color as well as the other technique such as eggshells, stones, ancient papers etcVietnamese lacquer art started and developed for a long time. From the beginning people used lacquer for ancient architecture projects such as pagodas, mausoleums, imperial palaces, temples. And people used it to decorate their furniture.