Review of ‘Necessary Fictions’

17 Jul

Tammy Nguyễn and Hà Ninh Phạm at The Factory
By Vy Dan Tran

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From 16 August to 27 October 2019, The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Hồ Chí Minh City presented a duo exhibition by the international artists Tammy Nguyễn (b. 1984) and Hà Ninh Phạm (b. 1991). Both explored fantastical imagery on papers using different media such as watercolor and graphite, which resulted in two opposing effects of boldness and lightness respectively. Among the few professionally curated exhibitions in Vietnam, ‘Necessary Fictions’, presented by Zoe Butt and Bill Nguyễn, has been one of the top painting and drawing shows. To some extent, the show did what Jamie James had described as “gently guiding Vietnamese art into the 21st century”¹, the age of intricate hybridity and overcomplicated jargon in art. The otherworldly depictions provided a perceptive account of contemporary painting with fiction as an essential element.

'Necessary Fictions' installation view, a duo-exhibition of Tammy Nguyễn and Hà Ninh Pham. Curated by Zoe Butt and Bill Nguyễn. Organized by The Factory from 16 August to 27 October 2019. Image courtesy of The Factory.

The press release offers an elaborate and perplexing explanation of the term “necessary fictions”: “In as much as maps and myths respond to historical and social architectures, the influence of such art forms relies on their ability to impress conscience inward, to paint human production as both physical and imagined structures, as necessary fictions.” In the context of art as human production, artists use creativity to respond to reality, hence imagination is indispensable. The press release then suggests that Tammy and Hà Ninh’s works evoke the possibilities of the human imagination to “repair, destroy, or transform the reality in which we live.” This tentative call for awareness seems contrived, and the title ‘Necessary Fictions’ might be too general. It is more insightful to understand “fictions” as the artistic inventions rather than to put it in the wider dichotomy between fiction and reality. The juxtaposition between Tammy’s striking palette and Hà Ninh’s complex system of codes poses a question about the extent to which their fictions are necessary.

Hà Ninh’s series of drawings and sculptures ‘My Land’ is an ongoing project and the artist’s ambition to create his autonomous world detaching itself from any preconceptions. The drawings on display are accompanied by texts explaining the spatial units, at times in a story-telling manner. Hà Ninh’s world has its own history and rules, and one has to learn from scratch how to decode its logic systems. ‘F7.B [Museum of Memory Fragments]’, for instance, requires that the viewer takes some time to figure out how the color-coded bars work to identify the stones in the collection. The act of finding the stones does not lead to any further explanations of their origins or purposes. Towards the end of my visit, I discovered that I had missed ‘[mothermap]’ (2019), the first piece in the series. The whole land looks like a floating mass of clouds, and the main map vaguely locates the individual units such as ‘C1 [guard tower]’, ‘B5 [Wax Fortress]’, and ‘H4 [residences]’. Without guidance, one could easily overlook the order and feel lost while navigating oneself through the show.

I started looking at Tammy’s vivid series from a random place, where there were two colorful installations partly attached to electronic fans. The rotating green shapes are reminiscent of Alexander Calder’s sculptures and disorient the viewer. Spanning the walls, the 12 works on paper stretched over wood panels retell the story of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool. In Tammy’s version, the daffodils, the reincarnation of Narcissus, repopulate the land lavishly as a metaphor for the widespread of human self-love. The consequence of the obsessive desire with oneself is illustrated in the final painting Ai Cursed Ai, where a human consumes Narcissus. Tammy’s series ‘The Gazing Pool for Who and Ai’ is pleasing to the eyes and suggests a taste for extravagance with the application of various gleaming metal leaves. Beyond its polished look is an allusion to the criticism of excessive self-adoration.

To navigate across Tammy’s surreal landscapes and Hà Ninh’s sci-fi land, one needs to rely on the artists’ fictions. The title “necessary fictions” is thus another cliché. The cornucopia of the daffodils and the eye motifs prompt the viewer to look beyond the glamorous spectacles. This eventually leads to Narcissus’ myth, which adds piquancy to Tammy’s artworks. Hà Ninh’s ambiguous maps, on the other hand, possess a purely aesthetic mystery constructed by the artist’s own invention. His series is closer to conceptual art than the art of drawing. While imagination is required to make sense of both artists’ bewildering creations, Hà Ninh’s guides play a more vital role than that of Tammy’s reconstructed myth.

The exhibition ‘Necessary Fictions’ generates a chain of disjointed contemplation of Hà Ninh and Tammy’ works as the borders of their fictional worlds are scattered. Nevertheless, the individualities of the artists shine through, defying the fragmentation of the display and the emphasis on the strengths and dangers of fictions in reality. Personally, I look forward to immersing myself more completely in Hà Ninh’s alternate universe.

About the Writer
Vy Dan Tran was born and raised in Hanoi. She graduated in History of Art (major) and Film Studies (minor) from Oxford Brookes University (UK) and completed her Master’s degree in Arts Management at The American University of Rome (Italy). Currently, she translates books, writes for magazines and works as a freelance art critic in Hanoi.

¹Jamie James, “A Two-Person Show Spans the Poles of Imagination,” Hyperallergic, https://hyperallergic.com/521228/a-two-person-show-spans-the-poles-of-imagination/.