Getting nostalgic over Bút Chì, a children’s magazine made by artist Đỗ Hoàng Tường and friends
Images by Thủy Tiên Nguyễn ●
There is nothing quite like having a good rummage through artists’ studios. It can tell you a lot about the artist, it’s amazing some of the things you can find and, well, its fun. We’re naturally nosy people! We had dropped in on Đỗ Hoàng Tường, one of Ho Chi Minh City’s leading contemporary artists, and were unashamedly having a look through his things when we found a faded, slightly crumpled but still beautiful magazine, Bút Chì.
Full of low-fi sketches and cartoons the magazine was made by Đỗ Hoàng Tường and two artist friends back in 1991. The three only managed to keep it going for ten issues – they were responsible for every stage of the magazine making, from ideas, through sketching, writing, print and production – but those ten issues were beautiful and we’re so excited to have found it. Bút Chì, sold for a whopping 300 dong, mixed cartoons of legends and fairy tales with original stories as well as educational articles on aeroplanes, flowers, moths and hot air balloons. Best of all are the pre-photoshop collages for which photographs of the producers’ friends’ children were turned into quirky cartoons.
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Đỗ Hoàng Tường managed to find us more of the issues and has kindly allowed us to digitalise these. We’re excited to be able to share the best of But Chi with you over the next few weeks.
