| Art League Houston |
Press Release | |
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Art League Houston Announces
Black Box, an Installation by
Phi Phi Oanh
Opens January 25, 6- 8 p.m.
Exhibition on view January 25- February 22, 2008
Art League Houston is pleased to announce the opening of "Black Box", an installation by Phi Phi Oanh, January 25-February 22, 2008. This is Phi Phi's first exhibition in her native Houston. The opening reception for "Black Box", Friday, January 25, 6-8 p.m., begins with a talk by the artist at 6 p.m. and features music by DJ DelSur. A catalogue, with an essay by Nora Taylor, accompanies the exhibition.
Starting with the raw materials and basic utilitarian art forms traditionally found in Asia, such as lacquer coffers, coffins and chests, Oanh has created a series of 16 oversized boxes whose proportions echo those of a burial casket. Rich paintings adorn the lids, combining sensual abstraction with precise figuration. Organic materials including the lacquer resin, stone pigments and precious metals form the palette in which Ms. Oanh has created her work.
Although the title, "Black Box", evokes a plane crash or a tragic incident, Phi Phi's imagery seemingly depicts the commonplace, until one notices the absence of human life - a riderless motorcycle in motion, a partially eaten dinner, with chopsticks laid carefully on top of bowls, a pile of abandoned slippers on the floor. The lustrous physicality of the works juxtaposed with the sobriety of subject matter creates a sense of disquiet, leaving the viewer with the unsettling feeling that something has just happened or is on the verge of transition. In her own words, "Black Box" is a stroll through memories of scenes so commonplace and recurring they are overlooked in our daily lives. Yet over time, the sums of these instances form the structure for the collective impression of an experience, a place, a culture, a period in one's life.
The sense of transition in Phi Phi Oanh's work mirrors the environment in which the artworks were created - Vietnam, a country in a period of intense change. In late 2004, Phi Phi received a Fullbright Student Grant to study the medium of Vietnamese lacquer painting. This study grant allowed Ms. Oanh, the Houston-born daughter of two Vietnamese political refugees, to go to Vietnam for the first time. She has since moved to Hanoi.
The tradition of Vietnamese lacquer painting was a closely guarded secret for over two thousand years, handed down from generation to generation among the family who practiced the art. The art form became more accessible in the early 20th century, when the founders of the Indochine School of Fine Art in Hanoi began encouraging their students to practice the art. Vietnamese lacquer is an extremely labor-intensive and time consuming process; a single work, regardless of its size is created in multiple stages using the hot resin or lacquer of the Ruc Succedanea tree, over an extended period of time. (Ms. Oanh worked for two years on the creation of her 16 lacquer boxes.) Lacquer was especially prized as it protected wooden objects and structures from the ravages of worms and termites. It was also used in some instances, according to art historian, professor and author Nora Taylor, to anoint "the bodies of deceased monks ... to preserve them for all eternity." The resin from the lacquer tree comes in two colors, amber and black. Colors are attained by mixing pigments into the resin (industrial pigments are now available albeit in a small range of tones) and gold, silver or aluminum leaf is used to create additional color and textures.
Although currently there are a relatively large number of lacquer art works produced in Vietnam, there are very few Vietnamese Americans practicing this ancient tradition. Ms. Oanh is considered by many to be an innovator in her use of traditional Vietnamese lacquer. In a recent review of her installation at the US Embassy in Hanoi, Phi Phi said "The resin itself - for its organic quality and specific characteristics - demands a different type of artistic perception and creation, one that has not precedence in the West. The resin, in all its temporal and environmental attributes, naturally brought me to create this work.
Nora Taylor, PhD Alsdorf Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art School, the Art Institute of Chicago says of Phi Phi's work, "Sublime was the first adjective that came to mind when I saw Phi Phi's finished boxes ... I am particularly fixated on her daring embrace of death as a theme. By death, I do not mean the end to all things living ... but death as an evocation, a reflection of one's life. The gloss of the lacquer acts as ... a mirror onto life around us. The paintings are celebratory ... they glow with light [and] are alive and sensually evocative. And yet they are still about death, a sublime death ... an eternal life beyond the human world."
Phi Phi Oanh has a BFA from the Parsons School of Design, Paris and New York (2002) and a MFA in Fresco Painting from the Fine Arts University of Madrid (2004). She has exhibited her work in a number of international solo exhibitions, including the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, Parsons Gallery, Paris, and the Palacio de la Cultura, Nicaragua. Born in Houston, Texas she has lived and worked in Hanoi, Vietnam since 2005. Before moving to Hanoi, Ms. Oanh taught at La Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas Rodrigo Penalba in Managua, Nicaragua.
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| About Art League Houston
Art League Houston is one of Houston's longest operating non-profit visual arts organizations and was the first alternative art space in Texas. Founded in 1948 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1953, Art League Houston (ALH) was created to promote the public appreciation of and interest in the visual arts. During the past 57 years, ALH has provided over 760 exhibitions to the Houston community, showcased the work of nearly 22,200 artists, and instructed over 35,000 students through the Art League School and Outreach Program.
Our Mission
The mission of Art League Houston is to cultivate awareness, appreciation, and accessibility of contemporary visual art within the community for its cultural enrichment. Art League Houston provides an opportunity for all members of the community to experience the contemporary visual arts. We achieve our mission through exhibitions, education and outreach programs.
Art League Houston is supported principally by Houston Endowment Inc., the estate of William G. Daugherty, Kevin & Laurie Foxx, City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, John P. McGovern Foundation, Kat Gallagher & Michael Rudelson, Bridgeway Charitable Trust, Bruce & Jaleh Sallee, Art Colony Association/ Bayou City Art Festivals, and by Andrisin Abbey, Aubrey and Sylvia Farb Community Service Fund, Susan & Jack Apple, the Ann Bengtson Memorial Fund, Brad & Leslie Bucher, Cantoni, Marv & Billie Chasen, CITI Smith Barney, Darrell & Peggy Delahoussaye, Earth Exchange Corporation, Ray C. Fish Foundation, Hugh & Berthica Fitzsimons, Alice C. Boyd Gano, Nick & Candice Goodwin, James & Ann Harithas, Harris County Department of Education, International Bank of Commerce, Inversion Coffee House, Kinder Foundation, Leanna Laster, Mangini/ Lakhia/ Dealahoussaye & Associates, P.A., Kenneth & Elena Marks, Mark & Gretchen Mazziotti, National MS Society Lone Star Chapter, Marilyn Oshman, Don & Crystal Owens, River Oaks Dental Arts, Michael G. Rudelson & Co., RWG Construction Management, Louisa Stude Sarofim, Tahamia Spain, Steve & Susie Streller/ Charter Custom Homes, Texas Art Supply, Top Drawer Lingerie, Kathryn Sherman Ttee, Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., The Woodlands Development Company, and all of our sponsors, members and volunteers.
Art League Houston cultivates awareness, appreciation and accessibility of contemporary visual art within the community for its cultural enrichment.
Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77009
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