CTG Nomad – New York City 2018

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – Craig Thomas Gallery is pleased to announce CTG Nomad – NYC 2018, a group exhibition of artworks by seventeen Vietnamese artists. The exhibition will be available for viewing at our gallery space at 361 Canal Street in Lower Manhattan from 6 – 21 September 2018.

CTG Nomad is Craig Thomas Gallery’s roving gallery project to bring Vietnamese contemporary artists to the great art cities of the world. We aspire to increase the awareness of Vietnamese art generally and create new paths for young artists to project their work beyond their home country. New York was the natural first choice for the inaugural edition of the series because of the gallery’s ties to the city and the past support of many New York-based collectors. The prominent role that New York plays in the imaginations and aspirations of most young Vietnamese artists was also a deciding factor. A second edition of CTG Nomad is being planned for Paris in the fall of 2019.

Craig Thomas Gallery (CTG) was founded in 2009 with the express mission to create a much needed curated gallery space in Ho Chi Minh City focused primarily on the development of young Vietnamese visual artists. Over the nine years since its inception, CTG has endeavored to identify and support young artists and help them become established in their artistic practices. Although the gallery began with a local focus, CTG’s roster is now evenly balanced with artists from Vietnam’s three main art centers of Hanoi, Saigon and Hue. CTG hosts a regular program of exhibitions at our Saigon gallery which includes a minimum of two debutant artists having their first commercial gallery exhibitions each year.

The artists featured in CTG Nomad NYC – 2018 include many of the country’s strongest painters under forty years old with a number of them being under thirty. They hail from all corners of Vietnam and work with a variety of materials and a diversity of art practices. Their styles reflect a myriad of influences. Some continue to work and innovate with traditional materials like silk or do paper while others pursue distinctive new paths through wood burn. Many have points to make about the social and political issues that are affecting their country. Points which must be made with caution and an understanding of what is permissible expression in the country. Their assemblage for this exhibition is the result of more than a decade of explorative curating by CTG.

For generations, Vietnamese artists’ work has evinced the pervasive influence of early and mid-20^th century European artists. The influence of French art and practice has also been particularly pronounced and a natural product of the colonizing country’s establishment of Vietnam’s first fine arts academy (École supérieure des beaux-arts de l’Indochine) in Hanoi in 1925. The two countries’ long ties have often seen many of Vietnam’s finest artists take the opportunity to live and work in Paris; a practice which continues to this day. This historical heritage has begun to be diminished, however, as economic development and political opening have allowed the country’s artists to travel the world – physically and through the internet – and gain a more comprehensive and international perspective on contemporary art.

First opened to the outside world in the early 1990s, Vietnam’s art scene has experienced slow but steady development over the ensuing two decades but still remains largely unknown outside of Southeast Asia.   A smattering of the country’s stronger and more innovative artists have begun to figure in important international collections and to have exhibitions in Europe and North America – a number of them feature in this exhibition – but the country of greater than ninety million people still punches below its artistic weight. There is great talent in Vietnam and a new generation of artists born in the post-American War period has begun to rise and now stands poised to take its proper place on the world stage.

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Private opening/viewing:                Contact the gallery for invitation

Exhibition dates:                              6 – 21 September 2018

Opening hours:                                12 – 7pm Tuesdays through Sundays

Location:                                           361 Canal Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA

Contacts:                                           Craig Thomas: +84 (0)903888431

E-mail: cthomasgallery@gmail.com

Website: www.cthomasgallery.com