‘ART IS SHIT’
2nd EUROPEAN SOLO ART EXHIBITION
LINH TRAN TRUNG
AT
YO YO GALLERY
2e JAN VAN DER HEYDENSTRAAT 1074 XS AMSTERDAM
5 JAN – 28 MAR 2009
PREVIEW 2-5 pm SUN 4 JAN
You can always tell tell the work of an artist who has a story. Linh Tran Trung was born in 1977 in Hoi An, Vietnam, a product of his War generation. And sometimes it shows.
His work is outspoken, vibrant in it's content, and sometimes violent in it's politic, as he draws on the techniques of Pop Art and graffiti to convey a modern message about living in the shadow of decaying icons.
In 2001, after graduating from the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University, Linh has exhibited his original and diverse work, in group and solo shows in Vietnam, and two successful one man exhibitions, ‘iPop’, in Bali, and ‘iCon’ in Amsterdam in 2008.
Back in Amsterdam from 5 Jan to 28 Feb 2009, for his 2nd European Solo Exhibition, at YO YO Gallery, Linh relishes the freedom of being able to paint or exhibit outside the constraints of his own society and country, with a provocative show, ‘ART IS SHIT’, a POP ART showcase of his unique social slant on the world through his minds brush, “copying what is displayed in his head, turning it invisible, (in his mind), to visible, (onto canvas).”
Linh stands in front an easel, staring at the canvas, then jumps in fully clothed. Bold, Bright, Daring, Linh manages to bring back inspired thought provoking works, to what sometimes seems a bleak state of the world of art.
Linh broke the mould on thinking outside the box long ago and never ceases to amaze. A regular Rembrandt. Check it out for yourself, it is way well worth the journey, yours and his. And, if Andy Warhol and Kurt Cobain ever had a love child, well this here is the result. Linh typifies the modern Vietnam, a country experiencing a cultural and creative renaissance after years where so much was lost.
Enjoy ‘ART IS SHIT’.
A PREVIEW will be held 2 – 5 PM SUNDAY 4 JANUARY 2009
YO YO GALLERY
2e JAN VAN DER HEYDENSTRAAT 79 (DE PIJP)
1074 XS AMSTERDAM
They’re two representatives to 2 kinds of art. Banksy, an English contemporary street artist; Kurt Cobain, from Seatles, U.S, a provoker of generation X hearts’ angst and frustrations by the means of his desolating voice and his screaming guitar. The former is living and working under a fake skin, or in fact performing his art illegally; the latter committed suicide on April 5, 1994. There’s no links between them. The considerable common ground is the two of them seeing themselves as underground artists, denying the mainstream and expressing their points of view in underground ways. Moreover, the most striking one is they both make great impacts on their generations with their works. So, putting their influence under consideration, we easily find out fine arts and music (herein, Rock) have a strong connection in their own existence: conveying their generations’ voices.
My painting, it comes from the heart, my soul. I swear I don't give a fuck! These days in Bali are my happiest days. New space, new inspirations.
Pop-Art with me, it's more than art. It's life. It's breathing, like us. It's not just paintings on the wall anymore. I like to stand in front of the easel, starring at the canvas and then jump into it. Paint is my life.
I've chosen these icons. It's so familiar with everybody, it's familiar with me because I care about life around me. Life goes on. Right. But I want to stop, take a view. What’s happened to the world, what's happening to you, to me, to everybody. A bloody deep concern.
I love Geisha, love the Samurai spirit, I hate Bush, I hate war. I like to listen to music, I also hate to fight. Be peaceful, calm the fucking down. This is all I want, just like that!
So, finally it's easy to enjoy art. But at the end, pop-art is not funny. It described itself as a part of the world we all live in.
The 21st Century, greed & convenience are killing love. I hate it, but I cannot live without it, so I hate it. I think everybody will agree with me. That is my P.O.V. share it!
With me, painting is not only my attitude but also my way to escape from the unclear dissapointment in my life.
Don’t push me to explain or name the feelings eating my life, the life of an artist who are trying to conceive, to save himself though painting sheet in front of ridiculous looking of people.
1) Have you ever considered the possibility of your work as being a copy?
That choosing those such familiar pictures to the world for the base of my works is itself an “original”. My works are, certainly, copies, but they are copied from what is dancing in my head, displayed by colors. To me, this form of copying is the most primitive and classical one. I have been adopting “copy” as my definition with this very meaning of it. There’s no otherwise.Whether it is pop art (which is much inspired by available finds, but it is inconsiderate to call it copying), abstractionism, expressionism or whatsoever you call it, to me, there’s only one form of copying: turning it invisible (in my mind) into visible (on the canvas).
I only concern about true art. And this is what I call true art. It’s not copying.
Can you make the similarities and differences out between Andy Warhol and PsychoLinh, my friend?
