A visit to the silk painter’s Ho Chi Minh City work space reveals what inspires her, when she works and what she does when the ideas stop flowing.
In the corner a new painting is coming into existence, the outline of a pomegranate morphing into a female body. Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng has mutilated the fragile silk of her canvass, stabbing it ever so lightly with a pair of scissors. Though the shading of the painting is in its very early stages the artist’s signature play of fragility and the grotesque – a tenderness and brutality – is shining through. It will be another few weeks before this piece is finished. As with all of Bích’s work her choice of material forces her to be precise and patient.
The small studio which she shares with an old friend opens westwards onto a small residential park. It is surprisingly tranquil given its proximity to the city centre. According to her astronomer that’s the perfect lay out for Bích. She is a 1984 rat and she needs space, quiet and a way to find both in the cityscape she adores.
Interview by Fabiola Büchele ● Edited by Rose Arnold ● Photos Francis Xavier
&: When is your favourite time to work?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: I prefer painting at night, because it’s so quiet. I think most artists are night people. Everything is so quiet, we can think and let our imagination run free. But then during the daytime the sunlight is really bright and natural…
I work as a freelancer for a living so my time is quite flexible. I paint on silk and have to wait for each layer to get dry, and repeat that all day. Depending on the weather it takes about 20 minutes for a layer to dry. If I have a job from the agency and the deadline is really tight I need to spend 100% time on the work. Then I forget my painting for a little bit, for a few days and then I come back to it when I am done with my paid work.
The more you pressure yourself the less the ideas come. But if you don’t pressure yourself at all there will also be nothing.
&: What inspires your art?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: Usually books. Non-fiction books and sometimes easy books that relax my mind. And sometimes I get ideas just wandering around the market. Recently I have been really interested in pomegranates. I like the colour. When I go to the market to get supplies I look at everything around me. Like a potato. I find it a really interesting concept, how the potato grows. From there my mind wanders to fingers. And then to society, and everything else.
When I see something, I don’t sketch it down right away. I need to stay quiet and let my mind wander around and think about it, while I just doodle randomly. I think about fingers and potatoes and I might draw my hands, my fingers, a potato from memory. Then I close my eyes and imagine how it would look as a finished artwork and then I sketch it. And after many many sketches I choose the best ones and draw it.
Sometimes it all stops though and I don’t have anything in my mind, it’s totally empty. So I just lie down. The more you pressure yourself the less the ideas come. But if you don’t pressure yourself at all there will also be nothing. So you have to push yourself, just not too much. So I lie down day for day and try not to think about being stuck, or I call a friend to hang out and eat a lot of sweet stuff.
And then sometimes at midnight it’s just boom, an idea and I have to get up and sketch it, otherwise I can’t sleep.
&: Where do you have ideas?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: Most of the time my ideas come to me when I am in bed or in the bathroom. I might be in the shower washing my hair and suddenly an idea comes to me. I really like water, everything is more clear when I am immersed in it. And before I go to bed, I lie down and let my mind wander.
And then there are instances when I am working on one thing and another idea will come along. I usually doodle my ideas. I am visual like that, but if I need to write down an idea for whatever reason, I keep it simple and short and when I finish the painting [I am currently working on] I will come back to it.
&: What would be your ideal studio and surrounding?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: Very simple. Just a square box. Empty, white walls and nothing, no decoration. I don’t want to pay attention to anything but my work. So I want nothing I have to clean or dust. I just want to keep things simple.
I do like places which are open like this is. Here I have open windows, a lot of sun and sunlight and it’s quiet here, you can listen to the birds. But it’s too messy. The problem is that my friend has a pet but he is too busy and does not have enough time to look after it. Sometimes I listen to music, but mostly I find it distracts me from my work.
&: Silk painting and your latest material, ceramics, are both laborious mediums that take a lot of patience. Do you enjoy the process?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: [Yes], it’s like meditation. You have to paint it patiently and keep going. You already have the idea of the colour you want, so you just repeat [the layers] until you get the colour.
If I really want it dark, it may take me two months, to get a colour that is really really dark and thick. It depends on the idea. If it is very fragile the colour should be light, so maybe a month. Because it’s silk it can take a long time, but it depends on the work. For a painter who is very detailed it may take an hour [for one layer], the first layer is very simple and then when you get into the detail it start taking longer. You have to be careful, very detailed and pay attention to each line.
Sometimes it is love at first sight and I just need to get it. Now. But I know that that doesn’t last long. If I am deliberate with my decision I value it more.
&: What are the challenges of working with these materials?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: I like working on silk, but I never think I am good enough. Never. I usually ask the friend who taught me how to paint on silk for feedback. She is very conservative, but whatever, I don’t care. I invite her over to take a look and tell me if I need to do something more or not. I need advice on the technique, but not on the idea.
[Also, with] ceramic. Both of those materials are really fragile. They are not everyday objects, you have to hold them carefully, look after them, chose a place to keep and protect them. It is unlike buying something, like a sharpener which you just put somewhere and forget about and just buy a new one.
I want people who buy my work to protect it. Otherwise it will be destroyed. The surface of silk is very easy to break, cockroaches will eat it. If you don’t look after it you will lose it, which is your right, it was your money you bought it with. But if you don’t want to lose it you have to treat it with care.
&: Are you the same with things you buy for yourself?
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng: Yeah. When I buy colours for example I think about it a lot. Is it made well? How good is the quality? The price? And I will see what they have at the shop and then I’ll go back home and think about it and only then will I make a decision.
If I really like something it takes time. Though sometimes it is love at first sight and I just need to get it. Now. But I know that that doesn’t last long. If I am deliberate with my decision I value it more.
●●
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng’s website
Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng works and lives in Ho Chi Minh City. She has made a name for herself as one of the most promising artists to emerge in Vietnam in the last years. She studied at the Fine Arts University in Ho Chi Minh City and has participated in numerous exhibitions both in her home country and abroad. She will be participating in the Hanoi Grapevine Selection Vol. II and is also working on a solo exhibition in her home city later this year.
The interview has been edited and condensed.
