REVEALED CONCEALED: ALTERED ICONS
GALERIE QUYNH
7 December, 2012 – 5 January, 2013
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
www.galeriequynh.com
- Truc-Anh
- Ha Manh Thang
- Hoang Duong Cam
- Tuan Andrew Nguyen
- Lien Truong
Through surprising depictions of historical and contemporary figures and structures, the works in this exhibition reveal and/or conceal the shifting power, symbolism and representation of these real and fictional icons, touching on ideas of desire, truth and identity.
Heroism involves courage and Truc-Anh explores the innate antagonism within this idea by suggesting that heroes confront reality indirectly, hidden behind a mask. As public figures, icons often times assume a double identity revealing outwardly a fabricated
personality while simultaneously concealing a private one. Truc-Anh’s graphite drawing
depicting Batman’s lone and fractured mask represents the dual identity of the virtuous
but troubled (anti-)hero, whose mask is reduced to its most simple and essential nature:
black, white and the transitional greys in between. In other paintings the artist
contemplates the perilous assimilation of multiple identities in political figure
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and pop icon David Bowie. Whether carefully and consciously
crafted or shaped and manipulated by the media, their identities are a result of slippages
between truth and fiction.
