Recent Vietnamese Painting
Minotaur Gallery, Tel Aviv
There are around 30 paintings on exhibit at the Minotaur Gallery, all by two women and three men in their 30s and 40s. And the reason the exhibition is entitled “Face to Face” is that the lion’s share of the paintings are portraits.“Hanoi Happy Hour” is a series of 13 portraits of Vietnamese men, most smoking cigarettes, and the most notable feature about these paintings is the heavy textural quality of the paint in them.A single painting by Dang Thao Ngoc is called “Wedding Party 11 Guests.” Half of the guests are elderly. Half are children.Another single painting by Le Anh Quan is called “Family.” It depicts acomplex abstract shape composed of blue and black lines and masses.Perhaps it is intended to depict how a family hangs together withoutdifferentiation from one another.“Red Lips,” by Dang Thao Ngoc, features a young woman and a girl withpiercing eyes. “Green Girls,” also by Dang Thao Ngoc, shows a woman anda girl with green faces.It is refreshing and even rewarding to obtain exposure to this side ofVietnam’s cultural life. The exhibition remains on view until 2 April.