Artist of Influence Phung Huynh and Extra Credit Gallery Visit Reviews
I decided on doing my artist of influence on an artist I came across for the extra credit opportunity Phung Huynh and my visit at the CB1 gallery
CB1 gallery
This gallery is one of my favorites to visit. There was two artist shows going on: Phung Huynh’s “Pretty Hurts” and Osvaldo’s Trujillo’s “Of Our Time”. From the two, Phung Huynh’s was the one I was primarily interested in, so I will be only discussing Huynh’s work.
“Pretty Hurts” is an exhibition show featuring work around the theme of western beauty’s influence in asia culture. Asian women (from the work show is primarily Chinese and Japanese culture) will use certain products to help them achieve the western ideal through nose/eye shapers and hair dye. In Phung’s work, we see the women using these products to achieve that ideal. An example of that would be “Nose Sharpener”.
Phung Huynh, Nose Sharpener, 2016 Oil and collage on canvas, 20" x 20" Taken from CB1gallery.com
In the piece, we see the woman using the nose shaping apparatus to “sharpen” her nose. A shapely nose adds value to a woman’s face, especially the type westerners have. We can also see this woman not imposed to western beauty ideals, but her culture’s as well. The foot that protrudes out of the circular window is, like the rest of her body, deformed. This is in reference to early customs of having Chinese women wear small shoes to shape their feet.(small feet were a sign of beauty of Chinese culture). This woman represents an amalgam of different beauty ideals. With this in mind, we wonder how much is cultural and how much is patriarchal values? Stylistically, this work has the look of differing influences as well. The central figure is naturally rendered in a western painting style while the setting is recognizable to early asian painting styles.(the cigarette smoke is also done in an asian style) And finally we see the mix of a newer contemporary style influence from how the trees and plants are rendered as graphic thick strokes. I believe, just as the subject matter, the visual components are about mixing different influences and cultures to examine the effects they have on women’s bodies. The women themselves are stylized, yet their body is altered for the sake of beauty.
In Phung’s other pieces we see the interplay of a western woman interacting with asian women in “Tea Party”.
Phung Huynh, Tea Party, 2017 Oil and enamel on canvas, 60" x 60". Taken from CB1 gallery.com
Here we see a trade of cultures between the women. One of the Asian woman offers tea to a western woman who in turn gives her the nose sharpener. While this may seem like a trade from a cursory glance, there is a power dynamic involved were the western woman benefits from everything. We two more (Asian) woman. One is at a table either looking longingly at the statues outside. The statues outside are also about western beauty and seem to have ideal proportions.(a greek ideal) The last woman at the bottom is trying on contact lens to look more western as well. This work follows the previous mixing of styles as well, but the women figures are more graphic in nature. This may reflect the changing of beauty ideals brought forth fully to the west and how it is starting to take root. The background also has an interesting effect this time as well. We see the marks of paint stains as they ooze down the painting(is this an effect of using turpentine?). This effect may also be read as Asian culture’s decay. This piece was the reason I wanted to visit the gallery. Its scale is large and the details of it are remarkable. Especially the technical skill range Huynh possesses. There was another interesting part to compliment the paintings Huynh did and these were the products used in Chinese culture. Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos of them since the staff were moving paints around and made it difficult o take a photo of this particular section.
I did find these multiple drawings interesting. We get to see the ideation and concepts Hunyh would integrate in her oil paintings.
Phung Huynh, Untitled (drawings), 2016Graphite on paper, 4.75" x 4.75" each (framed) Taken from CB1 gallery.
In several drawings, we see the feet binding results in several ways and surgical procedures on women’s eyes to look more pleasing. There are natural eyes shown next to altered eyes with heavy make-up. We also see what looks to be model portraits of women that are most likely the ideal women want to have. Each on their own is interesting, but the output together makes the message cohesive.
One more piece I would like to talk about is part of a series Huynh influenced by Japanese woodblock prints.
Phung Huynh, Woodblock Drawing (Breast Implants), 2015Graphite and collage on wood, 24" x 18". Taken from CB1gallery.com
I recognized the work from Shin Hanga artist Hashiguchi Goyo’s “Kamisuki” piece.
Kamisuki (Combing the hair), A colour woodblock print, Japan, Taishō era, 1920 Goyō (1880-1921) Taken from Wikipedia.
The work is from the Bijin-ga genre of art pieces depicting “beautiful women”. This has relation to Huynh’s current interpretation of shifting views on what it means for women to be “beautiful by their cultural norms especially in a historical manner.
In Huynh’s work, we see the work depicting how Asian women must go through more alterations of the body of breast implants as opposed to just combing hair and wearing intricate garments(now we like our beautiful women nude). I am curious to know if Huynh decided to intentionally leave the piece as a line drawing on a wood panel(the original was a woodblock print) for conceptual reasons related to the message of the work. Are we more interested in seeing the bareness of this woman’s altered features than the artistic aesthetics? Since the original is part of the Shin Hanga movement, I believe it still is about western influence seeing as the Shin Hanga was a revival of woodblock prints, but using western painting conventions not featured in previous japanese woodblock prints prior to the Meiji era.
I spoke with one of the curators and got them to take a picture of me with the tea party work. I plan on visiting on Sunday to see the panel talk, so i can find out more about Phung’s work. Her message technical skills and body of work left me intrigued and concerned about patriarchy, cosmetic surgery, and western influences on other cultures. This isn’t a new topic, but Hunyh’s way of discussing these issues have a confident voice. I researched the artist and found only a small portion about her on metro.com discussing her influences and interest in contemporary cross culture influences between the western and eastern world. https://www.metro.net/about/art/artists/huynh/