Roundtrip Vietnam

Nhat and the critic

Last month, my friend D hosted a friend from Vietnam.

D is a patron of the arts, a collector of rare refinement, and a treasure to any pub that could exist in my town if it wasn’t so brutally Doritos American. He brought Nhat to my basement studio to pick out a few paintings that would be easy to pack for sardine plane travel. She rifled through the paper ones and picked four. Her choices made me cringe. Besides two children and some holiday dinners, I have never loved anything I made.

And wouldn’t you figure, Nhat is friends with an art critic and professor of art. So as bad as I thought the paintings were in private, there was more public deprecation to come. Choice Stuckism. More skin-thickening. Any day now my integumentary will cease osmosising, and I will suffocate. Death by shame-hardening.

From D:

“Ron,

Nhat sent me this pic of her friend the art critic, along with comments he made on the paintings she picked:

1844 Lightbulb 2020. Acrylic on paper, 16 x 20"

He thought the lightbulb one stood out because of the strange idea. He liked the bright energy of the picture, the colour blocks were wisely used. He just wishes the paints on the painting were thicker for a deeper effect.

Felinity Scribble 2023. Acrylic on paper, 24 x 18"

About the cat painting: the colour blocks were also wisely used and the combination of the colours was great; but he didn’t pick that picture because he thought it was not interesting enough for him; although it was a good picture.

About the painting of Ron’s wife: my friend doesn’t like that energy, simply because he thinks women should be sweet. When he saw the painting of Ron’s wife, he said the first thing he saw was that there was a bullet in the woman’s eyes.

Push Her Too Far and Your Sorry Ass Bureaucracy’s Gonna Crumble to Dust 2022. Acrylic on paper, 14 x 18"

Title to the missing Image: Ranjit, Can I Borrow a Book on U.S. Social/Economic History? 2020, Acrylic on paper, 16 x 12"

It was a fast painting of an American flag, maybe with a bird, and the title painted over.

About the American flag painting: he thinks it’s an abstract perception from Ron about American society and economics —Which he thinks is chaotic.

There you go —your first Vietnamese review !”

A fine, kind telling of my paintings from an art critic. Not harsh at all. My skin can breathe for the time being!

Then this morning another email from D:

Nhat and her friend

“Nhat gave this painting of Rose to her friend. Her friend’s father worked for the Vietnamese embassy in London, so she grew up and lived there for 15 years and studied painting/art in England. Now she’s an art professor and works at Nhat’s university.

She liked the painting but also found it a little scary. She loved the title, telling Nhat she would hang it in her home and use it to scare/warn her husband.”

Sharing art is magic and I want more. Thank you friends and fellow travelers!