Multipoint
Our essay for Multipoint group exhibition of Nguyen Viet Cuong, Bao Nguyen, Quang Tien, Nguyen Huu Tang at 22 Gallery.
How do patterns shape and convey our perceptions and interactions with the world?
Patterns are regular, recurring formations that serve as a visual representation of natural and social order. They are more than just an aesthetic feature; they are a style of thinking that reflects how people arrange and organize their surroundings, as well as historical and social processes. Patterns have the power to connect individuals with communities, as well as people to the material and cultural worlds, while also reflecting social, political, and cultural beliefs. Furthermore, patterns do not exist in isolation; they are tied to cultural beliefs and social situations. Patterns provide a philosophical role, allowing individuals to analyze and classify the world. People can establish order and discover natural and social laws by organizing various things in accordance with pattern principles. So pattern is more than just aesthetics; it also refers to how people view and think about reality.
At Multipoint, the four artists have various ideas and modes of expression, but they appear to have one thing in common: they are exploring patterns through their artistic practice. Patterns here include not only aesthetic but also social, historical, and cognitive patterns. First, Nguyen Viet Cuong investigated patterns and carvings at Thai Lac Pagoda in Lac Hong Commune, Van Lam District, Hung Yen Province, using incense and a fire pen to re-carve the book "Vietnamese Proverbs-Folk Songs". Thai Lac Pagoda is a Tu Phap Pagoda system temple that worships Buddha and Phap Van. It is well-known for its Tran Dynasty wood sculptures. The work is the way he recognizes and connects with patterns that convey old Vietnamese spiritual beliefs with the desires of agricultural dwellers praying for wealth and abundance, a flourishing community, and all-around progress. Bao Nguyen then exhibits his understanding of time's rhythms and motifs. By blending the image of royalty with bright patterns and colors, as well as interweaving emblems of modern luxury, he appears to be examining the pattern of perception, or how viewers feel and generate meaning when interacting with his works. Next, Quang Tien investigates the ducks' running patterns in the fields by watching and rearranging his own perceptions. However, he extends on this method by connecting the ducks' running pattern to the human social pattern. The flock of ducks represents a society in which people are easily swept away by the overall flow, requiring each person to place themselves. Finally, Tang Nguyen expresses and investigates his own cognitive patterns of inner self and natural thought. By visualizing his emotions toward things and occurrences and re-establishing the symbolic framework, he explores and dialogues with the spectator about cognitive patterns and biases.
Patterns appear to be significant as ideological carriers, as well as cognitive and perceptual aids. They give humans a feeling of order and stability in a complex world. However, when the world gets simplified, patterns are prone to bias. To absorb information quickly and efficiently, humans frequently build cognitive patterns that aid in categorization, organization, and comprehension. Biases are not always conscious ideas; they might function in the background, outside of humans' consciousness. This explains why, despite their explicit commitment to equality and non-discrimination, many people can yet act biasedly in some contexts. Furthermore, bias is not merely the result of individual behavior; it is also sustained and reinforced by larger social structures and institutions. Social patterns, norms, cultural values, and political-economic institutions can all contribute to the development and maintenance of social biases. At Multipoint, patterns are reflected and reconsidered through contradictions in techniques or in the works themselves. Cuong studied and archived the model of the Thai Lac pagoda by burning books' papers; Bao combined ancient patterns and noble images with current fashion and objects; the flock of ducks in Tien's paintings moved in contradictory directions; or the images in Tang's paintings contradicted the reality of visual perception of portraits. These contradictions add contrast and extend the view of the pattern.
Through this exhibition, the artists not only explore the importance and forms of patterns through their artistic work, but also seek to reflect, challenge, and broaden the debate on patterns in a multifaceted manner, as indicated by the exhibition's title. May the artists change or continue to explore their own and the public's ideas on patterns in the future.
Written by Nguyen Khoi
Resources:
● BEEGHLY, Erin and Alex MADVA (eds.). 2020. An Introduction to Implicit Bias : Knowledge, Justice, and the Social Mind. New York, NY: Routledge.
● GOMBRICH, E. H. (Ernst Hans). 1979. THE SENSE OF ORDER : A STUDY IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DECORATIVE ART. OXFORD: PHAIDON.
● GROIS, Boris. 2008. Art Power. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
● Holz, Hans Heinz. 2019. Kunst-Theorien : kleine Schriften zur Ästhetik. Bielefeld: Aisthesis Verlag.
● Khoi, Nguyen Hoang Minh. 2024. How has contradiction in art changed the perception of individuals in Vietnam from 2000 to present?
● LEINIGER, Andrea and Georg VRACHLIOTIS. 2009. Pattern : Ornament, Structure, and Behavior. Basel ; Boston: Birkhauser.
