Finding a pure sculptural language at Manzi Art Space
By Nguyen Anh Tuan

Dao Chau Hai, 'Thinh' (2021), exhibition installation view at Manzi Art Space, Hanoi. Photo by Hoang Nguyen, image courtesy of the artist.

Vietnamese sculpture seems to be gradually losing its place. About ten years ago, a generation of new artists working in sculpture promised a novel visual language. Today, however, it seems to turn into disappointment when, apart from being heavy physical shapes, sculpture works do not create any significant concepts. Sculpture has gradually become a form of expression, a material and a “medium”, rather than expressing a unique aesthetic language. It has become either “salonised” in furniture, or takes the form of superficial decorations in outdoor spaces with a rigid and pragmatic spirit.

Dao Chau Hai (b. 1956) belongs to the last generation of sculptors who go after a pure sculptural language. Starting with Cubist sculptures in the 1990s, there has been many changes in his perception of sculpture. Since 2000, he has been searching for and incorporating his art objects into a variety of topographic and spatial contexts from small to larger scales. The move from natural materials to metals gives his sculpture new vocabulary not only with the context in which they are created and the space to which they are directed, but also in their efforts to capture and shape the spirit of the era into a specific visual form. The ideology of the industrial age is mixed with memories of the past and a sensitivity to the mechanical. His search for ideal forms in the ideal space, radicalising the language of shapes and engineering within the constraints of technology are both a driving force and a hindrance to the artist’s work.

Dao Chau Hai, 'Thinh' (detail) (2021), exhibition installation view at Manzi Art Space, Hanoi. Photo by Hoang Nguyen, image courtesy of the artist.

‘Thinh’, the artist’s latest series of work started with a simplified figure of bird. Using a flat metal surface which he hollowed out using laser cutting techniques, he then repeated these vertically and horizontally, building up standing cylinders that have multiple layers, with alternating hollow and solid sheets metal. The fragments cut from the flat metal surfaces are also used, radially laminated and stacked to form a solid pylon. The metal plates of the hollow sections are also not discarded. Rather, they are considered to be components of the work, intended to be incorporated into specific spaces or terrains.

“The voids become organic and the main subject of the sculpture. They “take away” the heavy feel of the material and the coldness of the metal, and guide the viewer’s gaze to weave in and out of the block, exposing the structure and the physical depth of its interior.”

When a three-dimensional sculpture is flattened, it almost approaches the visual language of graphic art and requires different articulations in terms of concepts, techniques and aesthetics. In the ‘Thinh’ series, plates of metal are either flat or laminated, or separated into independent sheets. Hollow shapes created by chiseling on flat surfaces determine the works’ aesthetic effectiveness. The voids become organic and the main subject of the sculpture. They “take away” the heavy feel of the material and the coldness of the metal, and guide the viewer’s gaze to weave in and out of the block, exposing the structure and the physical depth of its interior. At the same time, they are the doorways to connect the sculptural body with its environment.

Alumnimum alloy, which is the material used for this series, is advantageous for its responsiveness to light. The reflective surface creates light on its own by many passive and indirect light beams. This sculpture can be placed in a variety of architectural and lighting circumstances, from the outdoors to the typical white-cube gallery, in an artificial light hall, or even in a dimly lit space. In a dark space, the light on the contours of sculpture makes up the visual form of the subject. The shape becomes fragile, even “invisible”, and the voids or empty spaces become a solid block-subject of the work. When the light changes from day to night, or by the movement of things in relation to the work, the visual aesthetic changes accordingly and is not constrained as in traditional art disciplines. The work’s adaptations to the environment and scenery, time and weather help it to acquire a more “sustainable” aesthetic.

The title of this series, ‘Thinh’, is extracted from the word “thinh khong”, which designates a silent state of nothingness. “Thinh” in Vietnamese is pronounced close to the word “thing” in English which means object, or “think” which denotes reflecting. On domestic and international trips, the artist has had many opportunities to witness or listen to stories of people drifting, in exile or disappearing following changes in history and the resultant disintegration of communities and cultures. From thinking about the existence of the individual and the group through the transformation of time, Dao Chau Hai approaches the topic with a complex series of sculptures made up of layers and fragmentation, in order to express different states that exist in endless emptiness. This idea is influenced by the Eastern Buddhist spirit that all matters come from nothing and will return to nothing.

In looking at personal and social issues in contemporary life, art responds with certain solutions. As a perfectionist, Dao Chau Hai is constantly searching and building a pure spiritual space for himself and his community. But this appears unattainable because the world we live in today is constantly divided and broken, and ideals and beliefs become illusions and delusions. As Marcel Proust noted, “the only true paradise is paradise lost”. The artist is a solitary wanderer searching for a paradise that does not exist, where art provides but temporary relief for the soul in chaotic reality.

’Thinh’ was on view from 17 to 20 January 2021 at Manzi Art Space. This abbreviated curatorial essay was penned in Vietnamese by Nguyen Anh Tuan, curator of the show and Artistic Director of Heritage Space, Hanoi, and translated into English by Tran Ngan Ha.