A question about nature

The exhibition is titled “Metamorphosis 241” as the author shared: “It is a self-questioning about the relationship between nature and humans”. The focus of the exhibition is the image of the tree - a symbol of life”. Through the language of sculpture, the wooden blocks have a new form thanks to the continuous process of peeling, physical and chemical impact from the hands and mind of the artist.

15 works are arranged on 3 floors of the exhibition room, from low to high, helping viewers visualize a new tree creature, consisting of many different trees: Starting from the roots, up to the trunk, and finally the top. The core of the work is wood, mostly surrounded by a metal frame, connecting the wood and the metal frame are metal threads. The metal threads running around the wood core repeat the perforated pattern of the wood, creating a beautiful rhythm.

If the 7 root works are created like vertical cross-sections, placed in a neat row on the pedestal; then the works expressing the body are mainly cross-sections, arranged to hang high in a relatively flexible manner. We can clearly see that the front and back sections of the wooden core are completely free of any metal threads, but we still feel that these surrounding metal frames (rectangular, circular, hexagonal) have the ability to restrain and demarcate the boundaries of the work and its surrounding environment.

From the top of the tree (the final work), strangely, the viewer sees metal fruits growing out. The fruits are not round but are bright white squares. The result of a fusion full of contradictions and compromises, constraints and acceptance. That the wooden tree trunk (symbolizing the vitality of nature) and the metal fruits growing out of the wood (very similar to the way humans have operated the world) coexist as an inevitable thing.

Is this the evolution of civilization? When humans demonstrate their ability to conquer nature - the level of human progress causes nature to transform too? Or is the product before our eyes a strange thing that we have almost accepted, to the point of not being worth noticing or paying attention to?

Humans have a convincing argument and explanation for the above reason, that they are the product of both nature and society. They live in nature but always want to control nature. Human development needs cannot require preserving nature intact as in the beginning. Between the completely natural (not created by humans) and the artificial things, humans consume both, therefore being able to accept fusion, assembly, synthesis: Natural trees produce metal fruits.

But the image of a tree symbolizing nature, evoking nature, is not the whole of nature, but the tree is only a part of nature. Because nature is vast and consists of many combined elements: Air, light, land, rivers, forests, oceans... If humans accept "a tree with metal fruits", will the tree "accept" that, will nature "accept the metal fruits" that humans attach to the body of nature so densely? If the tree does not accept, nature does not accept, will they become unnatural, that they have not evolved according to the way humans define evolution, fusion, transformation?

Humans need nature to live, but nature can survive without humans. Humans can do new experiments, create new hybrid genetic codes, but they cannot stop the fury or the violence of nature. Or, if humans were to turn into trees, humans would no longer retain the previous aspirations to be on par with nature, to exist eternally, forever.

The trees in Nguyen Ngoc Lam's exhibition "Metamorphosis 241" are fortunately art trees - a realm that allows for all imaginations, visualizations of both life and desire, where people seek to find balance in the constant opposition and contradiction. The metal frame is the pedestal for the wooden tree he created, it can last a long time because both it and the wood have little ability to change or develop. But a natural tree, growing naturally, living for thousands of years, rooted deep in the ground, certainly does not need any support frame, even though it may collapse one day after those thousands of years, to blend in with the birth and death of nature, nurturing the next life.

The perspective of art, if limited, is because it is created by humans. If it is unlimited, it is because it can open up associations, thoughts, and imaginations that everyday life covers up. When artists and viewers are still wondering, it means that art still opens doors, and human intelligence and soul will continue to flourish and continue. Just like green trees, fragrant flowers, and sweet fruits are always present to preserve their species and nurture all life.