Iola Lenzi cleans damaged work at the Salon Natasha (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Art researcher and criticIola Lenzi arrived in Vietnam for the first time 20 years ago and was charmedby the refined culture.
Her background is rather unusual. She was born in Canada and is a lawyer bytraining, but taught herself art history.
She then became a critic and curator of contemporary Southeast Asian art with agood grasp of art history.
She has a strong attachment to Vietnamese art and artists.
In the 1990s, she worked with Southeast Asian contemporary art in Singapore.
New art in Hanoi in the mid-1990s was innovative. After seeing works by Vu DanTan (1946-2009) exhibited at APT2 in Australia, and images of works by Truong Tan,Nguyen Van Cuong, Nguyen Quang Huy, Nguyen Minh Thanh, and Dinh Thi Tham Poong inpublications, she travelled to Hanoi in 2000 to meet some of them and continueher research.
Lenzi first met artist Tan in 2000 together with his wife, curator and criticNatalia Kraevskaia, at Salon Natasha on Hang Bong street.
She has conducted research on contemporary Vietnamese art in Hanoi and HCMCity, and has been involved in numerous projects with Vietnamese artists.
Outside Vietnam, Lenzi curated solo and group exhibitions in museums and spacesin Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Paris, Yangon, Jogjakarta, Bangkok, andIstanbul.
In Vietnam, she has curated shows in Hanoi and HCM City, mostly at the GoetheInstitute Hanoi, but also at the HCM City Museum of Fine Arts.
She has also been involved in publishing projects, working with the Vietnam Universityof Fine Arts, which published her research about tradition in contemporaryVietnamese art; and with art critic and writer Dao Mai Trang, for her 2010anthology on Vietnamese contemporary art - and an essay about Vu Dan Tan.
Lenzi has many Vietnamese friends who are artists.
“Curating shows, and commissioning new work involves intimate bonds and trust,so, friendships blossom,” said Lenzi. “Artist-curator Tran Luong and I haveworked together, enjoying friendly arguments.”
She also nurtured a friendship with Dinh Q Le. “Dinh’s house in HCM City isfilled with antiques. I was there for tea and admired an ancient Annameseceladon bowl, which he then graciously gave me.”
Lenzi’s special interest in the art of Vu Dan Tan has led her to work on a PhDthesis on the artist, who began producing art in the 1970s.
“He was both prolific and unusually free in his expression, never constrainedby conventional media or themes,” said Lenzi. “His work opened completely newexpressive paths in Vietnamese art, but very few know his work, exceptsuperficially.
“Many do not understand that Tan’s art was conceptual even before doi moi (renewal)period. Because I worked extensively with Tan when he was alive, had manyconversations with him, commissioned new work, and analysed series in depth, Idecided to write a PhD on his practice which is important in Vietnamese arthistory, but also in Southeast Asian and global contemporary art history.”
The thesis also examines avant-garde art by younger artists emerging in the1990s. “Vietnamese art is hugely varied,” she said.
“The best of it is rich and sophisticated in concept, form and construction,uses many types of cultural, aesthetic and historic references. The works dealwith local paradoxes and tensions that make sense to audiences everywhere andshould not be abandoned.”
Lenzi said Vietnam’s pioneer contemporary artists, who emerged in early 1990s Hanoior before, were testing many boundaries.
“They were brave, both in the new languages of art they developed, and in theconcepts and themes they examined,” she said.
“They didn’t state, they questioned. A key aspect of their work was its activeengagement with what was happening around them. Some artists emerging now aretrying new things too.
“As long as Vietnamese artists sustain their ability to articulate criticality,Vietnamese contemporary art will remain strong,” Lenzi added.
Apart from being an art researcher, Lenzi teaches Southeast Asian modern arthistory at Masters level in Singapore.
When Lenzi is far from Vietnam, she remembers the stimulating conversations sheenjoyed with her friends in the country that were always exciting, deep, andsometimes and very funny.
“People have a sense of hospitality, a civilised way of receiving strangerslike me into their homes, an interest in music, and can handle complexlanguages in many disciplines,” she said.
Dao Mai Trang, an editor from Culture and Arts Magazine, has known Lenzifor a long time as they both work in the field of art and share the samepassion for Vu Dan Tan’s art.
Trang is an author of many books such as Contemporary Artists of Vietnam andArt and Talent, a foreground on the 8X contemporary artists generation ofVietnam.
Trang said she felt grateful for Lenzi’s effort and interest in introducingVietnamese art and Vu Dan Tan’s art to the world.
“Approaching the culture and history of a country through contemporary art is awonderful way to connect people,” said Trang.
“That’s the thing I learn from Lenzi through her previous and on-goingprojects.”-VNA
Her background is rather unusual. She was born in Canada and is a lawyer bytraining, but taught herself art history.
She then became a critic and curator of contemporary Southeast Asian art with agood grasp of art history.
She has a strong attachment to Vietnamese art and artists.
In the 1990s, she worked with Southeast Asian contemporary art in Singapore.
New art in Hanoi in the mid-1990s was innovative. After seeing works by Vu DanTan (1946-2009) exhibited at APT2 in Australia, and images of works by Truong Tan,Nguyen Van Cuong, Nguyen Quang Huy, Nguyen Minh Thanh, and Dinh Thi Tham Poong inpublications, she travelled to Hanoi in 2000 to meet some of them and continueher research.
Lenzi first met artist Tan in 2000 together with his wife, curator and criticNatalia Kraevskaia, at Salon Natasha on Hang Bong street.
She has conducted research on contemporary Vietnamese art in Hanoi and HCMCity, and has been involved in numerous projects with Vietnamese artists.
Outside Vietnam, Lenzi curated solo and group exhibitions in museums and spacesin Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Paris, Yangon, Jogjakarta, Bangkok, andIstanbul.
In Vietnam, she has curated shows in Hanoi and HCM City, mostly at the GoetheInstitute Hanoi, but also at the HCM City Museum of Fine Arts.
She has also been involved in publishing projects, working with the Vietnam Universityof Fine Arts, which published her research about tradition in contemporaryVietnamese art; and with art critic and writer Dao Mai Trang, for her 2010anthology on Vietnamese contemporary art - and an essay about Vu Dan Tan.
Lenzi has many Vietnamese friends who are artists.
“Curating shows, and commissioning new work involves intimate bonds and trust,so, friendships blossom,” said Lenzi. “Artist-curator Tran Luong and I haveworked together, enjoying friendly arguments.”
She also nurtured a friendship with Dinh Q Le. “Dinh’s house in HCM City isfilled with antiques. I was there for tea and admired an ancient Annameseceladon bowl, which he then graciously gave me.”
Lenzi’s special interest in the art of Vu Dan Tan has led her to work on a PhDthesis on the artist, who began producing art in the 1970s.
“He was both prolific and unusually free in his expression, never constrainedby conventional media or themes,” said Lenzi. “His work opened completely newexpressive paths in Vietnamese art, but very few know his work, exceptsuperficially.
“Many do not understand that Tan’s art was conceptual even before doi moi (renewal)period. Because I worked extensively with Tan when he was alive, had manyconversations with him, commissioned new work, and analysed series in depth, Idecided to write a PhD on his practice which is important in Vietnamese arthistory, but also in Southeast Asian and global contemporary art history.”
The thesis also examines avant-garde art by younger artists emerging in the1990s. “Vietnamese art is hugely varied,” she said.
“The best of it is rich and sophisticated in concept, form and construction,uses many types of cultural, aesthetic and historic references. The works dealwith local paradoxes and tensions that make sense to audiences everywhere andshould not be abandoned.”
Lenzi said Vietnam’s pioneer contemporary artists, who emerged in early 1990s Hanoior before, were testing many boundaries.
“They were brave, both in the new languages of art they developed, and in theconcepts and themes they examined,” she said.
“They didn’t state, they questioned. A key aspect of their work was its activeengagement with what was happening around them. Some artists emerging now aretrying new things too.
“As long as Vietnamese artists sustain their ability to articulate criticality,Vietnamese contemporary art will remain strong,” Lenzi added.
Apart from being an art researcher, Lenzi teaches Southeast Asian modern arthistory at Masters level in Singapore.
When Lenzi is far from Vietnam, she remembers the stimulating conversations sheenjoyed with her friends in the country that were always exciting, deep, andsometimes and very funny.
“People have a sense of hospitality, a civilised way of receiving strangerslike me into their homes, an interest in music, and can handle complexlanguages in many disciplines,” she said.
Dao Mai Trang, an editor from Culture and Arts Magazine, has known Lenzifor a long time as they both work in the field of art and share the samepassion for Vu Dan Tan’s art.
Trang is an author of many books such as Contemporary Artists of Vietnam andArt and Talent, a foreground on the 8X contemporary artists generation ofVietnam.
Trang said she felt grateful for Lenzi’s effort and interest in introducingVietnamese art and Vu Dan Tan’s art to the world.
“Approaching the culture and history of a country through contemporary art is awonderful way to connect people,” said Trang.
“That’s the thing I learn from Lenzi through her previous and on-goingprojects.”-VNA
VNA
