Dinh Thi Tham Poong (Vietnamese b.1970) 'Window Thoughts'

A well renowned exponent of the contemporary Vietnamese artistic scene, Dinh Thi Tham Poong is capable of merging her cultural Asian background with Western art.

The daughter of a white Thai and a Muong, she left the native mountainous Lai Chau province to study at the Hanoi Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1993, which launched her towards a rapidly successful career, sealed by the assignment of a number of awards, including first prize for the Minority Artists Exhibition the same year of her degree.

The main focus of her research is the representation of natural elements and humble subjects, combined with surrealistic traits, resulting in dream-like sceneries that seem to have come out of a folklore poem.

Her preferred medium is watercolour, which she applies on traditional Do paper to create flat palettes of colours that produce a pattern of juxtaposed tones. In 'Window Thoughts', lot 68 in our 26^th January Fine Sale, Poong depicts three women – her favourite subject –, hands clasped in determination, wearing the traditional Vietnamese costume, the Ao Dai, comprising a long, tight top worn with loose pants. Behind each of them is hidden a mysterious figure, of whom we see only a flowery sleeve covering an outstretched hand, than might represent spirits of nature or metaphysical forces. The brown background is the soil in which Poong’s women are rooted through their green lymphatic feet, but their blue heads are tonally and pattern linked to the windows behind them, though which they might find an escape towards a fantasy world.

Extremely collectible, her artwork can be found at the Singapore Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others, and exhibited all over the World.

- Daniela Guardiani