Interview: Hà Mạnh Thắng on the inspirational wealth of Vietnamese history, the random selection process of nature and his newest subject of paint.
There is no mistaking you have entered an artist’s residence when you have squeezed past the cluster of mopeds and bicycles at Hà Mạnh Thắng’s house around the corner from Tây Hồ Pagoda. Empty canvases of impressive dimensions are parked where tea is usually served, waiting to be taken to the fourth floor and transformed into one of the artist’s much praised paintings.
In the second floor living room jazz music makes for the perfect backdrop for & Of Other Things to talk to Thắng about his upcoming exhibition.
Every bit of available space in the small square room is made use of and it speaks of an artist residing here who really immerses himself into his chosen field. Five cabinets with glass doors host an extensive collection of coffee table books on all things art and design: 3000 Years of Art History, Taschen’s Art Now, Fashion Now, Design Now, Andy Warhol, Rona Pondick, Roy Lichtenstein, Marlene Dumas collections, volumes on architecture and product design.
A sculpture by Thái Nhật Minh – Thắng the first buy of a piece of art from the sculptor- sits comfortably next to an ancient wooden buddha. A small collection of antique memorabilia, figurines and decór from Southeast Asian temples line the space on top of the books. And one wall sports a first preview of Thắng’s newest series, two small paintings of interpretations of dynastic dresses from long ago. And there are more, much bigger versions where those came from in his upstairs studio.
At first glance however these paintings of 16th and 17th century kings’ dresses leaning against his studio walls on the fourth floor of his house seem to be a move away from his earlier work. The dark, broody colours of his Landscape series have made way for something much lighter. Primarily white intercepted with colourful splodges the paintings hint at the idea of something a royal might have once worn.
Not that this is unusual as deconstructing, stripping back and re-imaging has been Thắng’s signature brush stroke. And he has given these dresses that very treatment by seemingly not focusing on their most noteworthy features, the delicate design and detailed embroidery. Instead he has carved these details into the paint, hidden to the casual observer, seemingly reducing them to simple garments. The series highlights what is usually lost, namely that these outfits never impressed with shape or intricate tailoring, but their luxurious embellishments and fabric. Just like he has done with the Mausoleum, Hue’s Citadel, temples, pagodas and structures of Angkor Wat he has stripped another symbol of history down to its most basic features.
This newest of old subjects does not however mean Thắng is done with his study of Vietnamese ancient architecture. Rather it is an extension of this subject which he has busied himself with for four years now and has resulted in a rather impressive, delicately researched body of work.
Interview by Maia Do ● Edited by Rose Arnold ● Photos by Thủy Tiên Nguyễn
&: You are known as an artist who builds a bridge from the past to the present. Do you intend to continue that in this collection of yours?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: It’s not really a bridge that I built. I just think that in a country with rich culture as Vietnam, any detail, any story can become art. We have an extraordinary history, if you are delicate enough, any material can be transformed into arts, music and dance.
A culture that is rooted so far in history is a tremendous source of inspiration and is not to be wasted.
Our country has a history of several thousand years. Yet some people say the feudal history of Vietnam should only be counted since the ruling by King Gia Long in 1802. Because that was when Vietnam was first established on one consistent ground administratively, legally and with our own letters. Some might consider the idea reactionary, I can’t argue with those conservatives. I’m only saying a country with such history easily inspires me. Why waste, or deny, a culture that lasts so long? I do not discuss the culture’s greatness, but a culture that is rooted so far in history is a tremendous source of inspiration and is not to be wasted.
&: In your opinion, what does bringing traditional architecture and costume into your work mean to modern society?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: It depends on each person’s view and background. What they want the connection to be. Most people are just curious, a temple means nothing more than a temple to them. If they want a deeper understanding of it, they have to know about the time it was built. You feel it, absorb it not only by your eyes but also through other sources of information.
&: From the beginning the focus of your art has mostly been on architecture. This time a new subject, costume, appears. What brought about this change?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: The notion of time and history are shared by all of my subjects. Some costume and some patterns of temples and pagodas from the 16th and 17th century are similar in the sense of time.
&: Is there any similarity besides the time period?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: Some temples and pagodas in the Later Lê dynasty period, for example. That was the most outstanding period of the whole Vietnamese feudal era to me, I’m fascinated by this period in North Vietnam. Arts during this period was distinctive, it allowed civilians to speak up more liberally. This was demonstrated through the image of the dragon on Lê-Trịnh costume or temples’ architecture. The dragon in this period bore a resemblance to that of Ming dynasty of China. Yet the Lê-Trịnh dragon had something close to everyday life and the Lê-Trịnh architecture contained the folk element in an artistic way. They reflected people’s everyday life.
People’s everyday lives featured in the carvings, such as the scenes of chicken fighting, people wrestling, even people having sex. It is interesting how routines of normal life could create art like that.
In the Lê-Trịnh time, individuals were important in contributing to the design and building of a pagoda. And in other pagodas like Tây Đàn, Thổ Tang temple, people’s everyday lives featured more in the carvings, such as the scenes of chicken fighting, people wrestling, even people having sex. It is interesting how routines of normal life could create art like that. Before this period, and after that in the Nguyễn dynasty, it was much stricter. Nguyễn Kings honoured Confucianism and did not allow the mediocre to be presented in art.
&: Angkor Wat appeared in your introduction [to the upcoming exhibition] as well. What is the importance of Angkor Wat for you?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: I think people often put an image higher than a symbol. It may be lucky if something is considered a symbol, yet it can be dangerous too. Angkor Wat luckily became a symbol, and we, the people are getting benefits from that symbol. But when it was first built, it only marked the role of a king and his victory, not the wishes of the crowd. It’s the same for the old citadels in Huế. A regime built it to mark their names. It’s a historical landmark, a place to worship kings and gods who gave birth to that dynasty.
&: Are you into symbolism and decorative patterns in your designs?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: In my art I reflect only part of symbolic elements. I pick out some specific characters only, like one small grain of sand from the desert.
As in the 16th and 17th centuries, there were lots of special details. Of these I can only use some, and not the entirety of them, only their appearance, their basic structure to express my art.
&: How do you pick objects for your paintings?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: I chose them rather randomly. Let’s talk about symbols, for instance.
People remember symbols which survived natural or artificial selections. Some heritages or monuments are just lucky to be still standing…
People remember symbols which survived natural or artificial selections. Some heritages or monuments are just lucky to be still standing, in other words, they are saved by the hand of nature or some god. One has to be lucky to be a symbol. Throughout Vietnamese history, I can’t name any 50 years without war. Whatever survived those wars became symbols, and people remember only those. I asked myself if it wasn’t for the hand of nature, what could we do to preserve them? So around four years ago, I started bringing these symbols into my paintings. After a while, I stopped to take a look at my work and realised I was only painting the exterior of them. There was something deep inside them that I missed. So I paid more attention to their structure, the stories behind them and their background.
&: Did the blueprints and the architecture drawings of yours on the Đinh dynasty help you in reconstructing important buildings?
Hà Mạnh Thắng: I have a friend teaching in the University of Architecture. Once when I was painting, he suggested: “I can get you the drawings of each and every pagoda and temple in the north, if you want them.” Those are the only drawings left, with frontal and cross-sectional details of pretty much everything according to their geodetic nature. I studied those blueprints and projected them onto real pagodas and temples. I had to check them at specific pagodas and the villages in the neighbouring areas with my own eyes.
It’s all about the motif. No matter where it came from, Đinh-Lê-Lý-Trần or the Lê-Trịnh or Nguyễn dynasty, it is just a motif. It may signify cultural changes and renovations, through different political and historical backgrounds.
But in the eyes of a painter, the structure matters more, contains more important features.
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Hà Mạnh Thắng’s upcoming exhibition is in Bangkok’s Thavibu Gallery this September, part of which will be previewed at Manzi from 18 July – 4 August.
Artist Info:
Hà Mạnh Thắng was born in Thái Nguyên in 1980 and came to Hanoi to study at the University of Fine Arts from which he graduated in 2004. Since then he has gone on to exhibit in various galleries across the country as well as internationally including Singapore, Berlin, Budapest and New York. His body of work features various elements of Vietnam’s rich heritage. He lives and works in Hanoi. For more information on his previous bodies of work visit his website: www.hamanhthang.com
