Vietnamese contemporary artist Bui Cong Khanh delves into the themes of modernization and its consequences in a new exhibit titled “Life is Consumption,” opening soon in Ho Chi Minh City.
The 38-year-old artist will launch the solo exhibition at the city’s San Art beginning at 6pm on April 22.
In his work, Khanh reflects on the social and psychological effects of wealth and power on society by tracing the idiosyncrasies of the human condition, and its compulsion to throw its doubts and insecurities into religion, politics, labor and media-fuelled ideas of love and desire.
A common discarded soda can, for instance, is re-branded with Khanh’s caustic humor painted on canvas. Such new “products” refer to Vietnamese society and it’s complex, and at times contradictory, embrace of modern life, which is entangled with traditional and political ideas of culture.
Questioning the power of the individual, “Life is consumption” also includes a series of small sculptural “stories” using the ubiquitous red plastic chairs of Vietnamese cafes and public meetings.
Born in Da Nang in 1972, Khanh belongs to a generation of artists who witnessed the beginning of Vietnam’s “Post Doi Moi” era.
The artist found himself marveling, but also alarmed, at the recklessness in which Vietnamese contemporary society threw ideas of progress into a heady rate of production with little organizational foresight or consideration of community.
Khanh graduated from the Painting Department of the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University in 1998. Frustrated by the rigid structure imposed on him at university, the young artist initially turned to his body as a form of canvas and it was these early public performances, where he invited audiences to stamp and paint his skin, that first became his international signature.
In recent years, Khanh has returned to his love of painting, further exploring sculpture and installation in his continual investigation of the relationship between mind, body and society.
“Life is Consumption” is on display at San Art (3 Me Linh Square, Binh Thanh Dist.) until June 3.
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