RE:FORM - A glimpse of abstraction in Vietnam since Đổi Mới

RE:FORM - A glimpse of abstraction in Vietnam since Đổi Mới, presented at Galerie Frank Elbaz in Paris, explores abstraction as a foundational and progressive artistic approach in Vietnam, distinct from Western modernism. Following the Đổi Mới reforms of 1986, abstraction emerged as a liberation from socialist didacticism and a reclamation of artistic freedom for artists, particularly in Southern Vietnam. The exhibition traces the practices of five artists who have engaged with abstraction since this period, moving beyond earlier conventions.

The show features artists such as Nguyễn Tấn Cương and Đỗ Hoàng Tường, who were part of the pioneering Group of Ten. Cương's work evolved from urban spaces to luminous, atmospheric suggestions, while Tường shifted from abstraction to corporeal forms. Younger artists like Thảo Nguyên Phan and Trương Công Tùng utilize abstraction in conceptual practices, video, installation, and ecology, exploring themes of opacity, myth, and cosmology. Hà Mạnh Thắng's work is characterized by a gradual shift from figuration to de-figuration, viewing abstraction as a temporal field where history is reconfigured. The exhibition posits that abstraction in Vietnam is a dynamic response to the contemporary, reflecting cultural, political, and ecological shifts.