Art and Objects (fire extinguishers, lemons, and waste baskets)

 The Women's museum has an amazing collection of military recruitment posters from the Vietnam war. They are powerful and so strange.

 I think this is a powerful painting... love the use of hybridization. It's made by a contemporary artist from Hanoi. I wish I had written down the artist's name, but I didn't. The gallery was called "Art Vietnam" and it was run by an American art collector/curator who recently lost her dedicated gallery space due to the rising cost of rent in the old quarter (higher than NYC). She is currently showing her collection from her beautiful home, by appointment only.

OK, I can't resist juxtaposing that painting with a freshly painted Lichtenstein knock off, available in galleries all over the old quarter. Yes, if you prefer you can also get a Picasso, Monet, or Van Gogh. All fake and ranging from about $25 and up. You can even hire the artists to paint a photo of yourself painted into an Andy Warhol or Seurat, or commission a pet portrait. Not that I would ever do that. Hut hum.






 The benefit of staying with friends or family is the opportunity to get a glimpse of local everyday life; it definitely provides a different perspective. These two photos were taken at the local super market. Apparently it's important to make sure the lemons are very hygienic, um, I guess? You can close your mouth now, PDX people! You can also never have too many fire extinguishers. 

 I visited a lot of museums and art galleries while I was in Hanoi. This drawing was at the Fine Arts Museum and it's titled "Playing as Little Soldiers." A few Vietnamese people I talked to remembered when children used to dress up like soldiers and play in the streets.

Textiles: There are many native tribes living in Vietnam today. They each have their own style of traditional clothing. The patterns are so beautiful and diverse, and each pattern has symbolic meaning that represents their identity.

 This was a still taken from a video at the Women's Museum. It was a film that documented women who leave their village and families behind to come into Hanoi to sell their wares.

 Is she playing tennis? I guess there is a certain kind of happiness in a waste basket. Hmmm.

This is a window installation at the Women's Museum in Hanoi. I love that the background is made up of the current weather... a monsoon hit soon after I took this photo.