The new year’s hottest event: VAALA’s “Art Speaks”

The hottest event of the new year is actually an art show, coming up in a little more than a week. It will promise to be highly controversial, enmeshed in the biggest current events of both the Vietnamese-American community and of Vietnam. Yes, that includes all the protests and such.

The exhibit is entitled “F.O.B. II: Art Speaks” and is produced by VAALA – the Vietnamese-American Arts and Letters Association.

Dubbed a “multi-art show (at) the crossroads of art + politics + community,” the show F.O.B.II is slated to be open from January 9 through January 18, at VAALA Center, 1600 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 92706.

Click on the image for the PDF of a large, two-sided postcard with all the information.

Some of the names include prominent artists in Vietnam who are so outspoken they’re routinely tailed by agents of the security forces. (And whenever they meet with the Bolsavik the two groups of tails can merge, heh heh.)

Following the jump is the press release from VAALA.

December, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: TRAM LE, Co-Curator
(626) 627-6826
LAN DUONG, Co-Curator
(323) 377-1967

F.O.B. II: ART SPEAKS MULTI-ART SHOW EXPLORES THE CROSSROADS OF ART + POLITICS + COMMUNITY

Exhibition features a kaleidoscope of 50+ visual, performing, and literary artists celebrating our rich history and the diversity of voices within the Vietnamese community here and abroad.

January 9 – 18, 2009 @ VAALA Center, 1600 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 92706

Check out our trailer: www.youtube.com/vaalaorg

Westminster, CA- F.O.B. II: Art Speaks presents a kaleidoscope of 50+ visual, performing, and literary artists and artistic groups of all medium (painting, sculpture, photography, film, installations, performance art, video art, comic drawings, graffiti art, poetry/spoken word, music, turntablism). The exhibition is aimed at inciting a conversation about art, politics, and community—where they converge and intersect—issues which have been labeled taboo or dominated by vocal factions within the community.

F.O.B. II: Art Speaks proudly presents works by the following artists: Alex Chinh Nguyen, Ann Phong, Binh Danh, Brian Doan, Charlie Nguyen, Chau Thuy Huynh, Dao Hai Trieu, Debbie Nguyen, Demon Slayer Family (Dan Duy Nguyen + Mailan Thi Pham), Do Le Anhdao, Ham Tran, Hiep Nguyen, Hong-An Truong, Jenni Trang Le, Kiep Nao Co Yeu Nhau Musical by Duy Tam, Lan Hoang Vu, Lan Tran, Le T. Que Huong, Llouquet Sandrine, Long Nguyen, Long T. Bui, Nam Quan Nguyen, Ngoc Vo Arps, Nguyen Huy Loc, Nguyen Khai, Nguyen Quoc Thanh, Nguyen Trong Khoi, Nguyen Viet Hung, Nhan Duc Nguyen, Roland Nguyen, Saigon 1, Steven Toly, Taylur Thu Hien Ngo, Tran Tien Dung, Truong Chinh Ngoc, Tuan Kien Nguyen, UuDam Nguyen, Vi Ly, Viet Le, Vuong Van Thao, YLW (Young Leading Women), and more…

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2-2-2-2 F.O.B. II: Art Speaks

Six years ago, F.O.B.: A MultiArt Show started a movement within the artist community, specifically among a young generation of Vietnamese American artists living in California. The exhibition was meant to challenge the labels that threatened to define the community and the community of Vietnamese American artists too narrowly. Through the first F.O.B., we sought to find our own artistic voice.

On January 9 – 18, 2009, the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association(VAALA) will again gather established and emerging artists of varying ages and who work in different artistic medium for F.O.B. II: Art Speaks. We want to examine the broader issue of our community’s identity and what we are allowed to say through art in the space of the national and international.

Co-curators Lan Duong and Tram Le state, “In light of recent events regarding the silencing of dissent in the community and in the country, we want to promote a diversity of voices within the art community in Viet Nam and abroad. We believe that art must speak in times of political turmoil. With this exhibit, we pose the following questions: how do we define ourselves as a community today, and how will we define ourselves as a community tomorrow? As artists, how do you express yourself through art without constraint?”

Most expressly, this exhibition is a forum for community members, including the artists, to share their own stories through their artwork, the performance of their stories, and their participation in panel discussions.

F.O.B. II: Art Speaks is VAALA’s largest multi-art exhibition incorporating all the major mediums of visual, performing, and literary arts presented by the Vietnamese diaspora. This 10-day event is organized by the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA), a community-based non-profit organization that has organized numerous cultural events, including symposiums, exhibits, film screenings, concerts, and the biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF).

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