HCM CITY — Visual artists Trương Quế Chi and Kenny Nguyễn are showing their works at two exhibitions that open on Friday (September 28) at the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in HCM City.

Chi, a visual artist and filmmaker, will collaborate with vn-a, an architectural studio to present the “site/shine/sight” exhibition which will include an arrangement of sculptures, a photography installation, walls and lights.

The arts centre will be transformed into a dim maze to explore how elements of light can be communicated and interpreted within the context and conditions of a contemporary art centre.

Chi earned a master’s degree in film studies at the New Sorbonne in Paris.

Her works have been featured at local and international film festivals, exhibitions and symposiums, such as the Asian Film Focus 2017: Time Machine, Objectifs–Centre for Photography and Film in Singapore, and the Nhà Sàn Collective in Việt Nam.

She is currently a film lecturer at the Hà Nội University of Theatre and Cinematography.

Tuấn Dũng Nguyễn and Hương Vũ, members of Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA, or Association of German Architects), founded vn-a and have studios in both Berlin and Đà Lạt.

They won second place at the VI edition of the International Prize for Sacred Architecture in 2016.

The second exhibition is artist Kenny Nguyễn’s first solo exhibition, titled “lamina | ink”. It will showcase a collection of drawings of abstract characters which he calls sea monsters.

The monsters are inspired by shapes and forms of mysterious deep sea organisms, combined with colonial and old temple architecture of HCM City.

Kenny, who has a love for paper, including the Vietnamese giấy dó (poonah paper) and Japanese kitaka, uses joss paper from Thái Nguyên Province, his mother’s hometown, as a link to his roots.

He uses ink, watercolour, markers and gold leaf pens to paint on joss paper and to create drawings titled Pollen, Pluto and Well-Wisher.

Kenny graduated in visual arts from the College of Art and Design at Lesley University in Massachusetts, the US.

He won a Major Achievement Award in Illustration at his school in 2014, and an award from the Boston Printmakers in Massachusetts in 2015.

He returned to Việt Nam in 2015 after seven years of studying and living abroad, and is currently working in HCM City.

His work was featured in group exhibitions at Wedeman Art Gallery in Massachusetts in 2017, Lesley University in 2016 and Bank Street Arts in Sheffield, the UK in 2015.

The two exhibitions will close November 18. The arts centre is at 15 Nguyễn Ư Dĩ Street in District 2. — VNS