Salon Saigon Collection Artist Talk #2: Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng

Language: Vietnamese and English

Free entrance – Registration: info@salonsaigon.com

Born in 1984 Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng is a visual artist based in Saigon. Despite majoring in Oil Painting at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University, from which she graduated in 2010, she nevertheless focuses her practice around traditional Vietnamese silk painting as a primary medium. In the year of her graduation, she was a finalist in the ‘Talent Prize’ of the Vietnamese-Danish Culture and Development Exchange Fund (CDEF). The following year she obtained an artist residency in Sapporo, Japan. Her work has been exhibited in major cities throughout Vietnam and Japan.

“My art is an outlet for expression and a means to deliver concerns regarding sexuality and eccentricity. Recently, my focus has shifted more toward nature, time, space and social awareness in Vietnam. I often wonder about the state of individuality in the other countries. My works are usually a blend of imagery of human sexual organs twisted into seemingly familiar distortions and contrast elements that do not seem to belong together. For me, these unlikely combinations often create the perfect piece. I have been using Vietnamese traditional silk paintings as my primary medium, but I always experiment with new mediums as it could be the new language in my art. I enjoy reflecting my thoughts on contemporary issues through art, using traditional medium and materials as a way to challenge to the dogmas of society.”