By Sam Weber
Staff Writer
Flowing, purple silk robes emblazoned with bold calligraphy swayed in the brisk October breeze as a seemingly nondescript Vietnamese man scuttled about painting vast gestural characters in black ink on a large swath of delicate paper. If you witnessed at the Student Center this Tuesday, you were privy to what Richard F. Brush Art Gallery Director Cathy Tedford called “a live action painting performance,” by visiting artist Le Quoc Viet.
Viet, a well-renowned North Vietnamese scholar and avant-garde artist, is currently exhibiting a show entitled “Secret Mantra” at the Brush Gallery. “Secret Mantra” has been exhibited all over the United States since 2010 and continues to be booked up until 2017, said exhibition curator David Thomas. The show consists of a myriad of colorful silk lanterns covered with ancient Han Chinese and Nom Vietnamese characters. The lanterns range from ten to fourteen feet in height and hang from the ceiling of the gallery, illuminated from within by delicate strands of white lights. As visitors walk between the lanterns in the darkened gallery space, the silk columns seem to dance in their wake.
During his childhood in a Buddhist monastery, Viet studied ancient languages and traditions extensively. Now he is one of only a handful of Vietnamese citizens who can still read their traditional Nom language. As an artist, Viet draws inspiration from these and other lost cultural traditions. His work reflects his years spent in the pagoda studying traditional linguistics and folktales, as well as contemporary social issues. In his art, he seeks to achieve a difficult fusion of modern thematic and aesthetic choices with rapidly vanishing Vietnamese traditions. Despite the fact that few but the artist can actually understand the inscriptions on the colorful lanterns of “Secret Mantra,” he said that he wants viewers to feel a spiritual connection with the stories that the lanterns tell as they sway to and fro.
As one continues through the smaller part of the gallery and the hallway outside, the journey to the distant lands and cultures of Eastern Asia continue. “Ensō: Zen Circles of Enlightenment,” are paintings from the Zen Buddhist tradition of ensō paintings created by renowned Zen teacher Kazuaki Tanahashi and two of his regional students, Joseph Duemer and Lynette Monteiro. A traditional Zen practice, the ensō circle is typically painted in one brushstroke and one breath, signifying the painter’s spiritual connection with the piece. The paintings on display are gracefully complete, with sweeping colorful rounds and central voids that inspire thoughtful reflection.
To learn more about ensō paintings, be sure to attend Kazuaki Tanahashi’s artist’s lecture on November 17 at 7:00 pm in Griffiths 123. The artist will also host an ensō workshop the following day at 7:00 pm in Bewkes 333.