Trinh Cam Nhi
Mirage, 2023
Oil on linen
90 x 90 cm
The works featured in this exhibition are parts of an ongoing painting series I have been working on since 2021. In this series, a delicate harmony emerges between the cadence...
The works featured in this exhibition are parts of an ongoing painting series I have been working on since 2021. In this series, a delicate harmony emerges between the cadence of nature and the rhythms perceived by an ambiguous observer. Whose eyes are these, you might wonder? Here, I paint from the perspective of a concealed identity, one that possesses no physical form but exists solely as a gaze. The strategic use of grids and boxes represents the gaze's attempt to document, categorise, and contemplate the nature of its own reality. This gaze remains elusive–at times wandering in the abstract space of
the spiritual world, while at others extending towards the external to capture the mysterious beauty of nature. By imagining the interplay between these two realms, I endeavour to explore new forms, techniques, and innovative modes of expression in painting.In Mirage , the gaze stops wandering. Time is captured and frozen in an ambiguous space divided into two. This recurring motif of "half and half" painting is a playful exploration of the idea that each eye perceives a slightly different reality. As this series of paintings progresses, the act of looking itself evolves into the subject of investigation, taking precedence over the objects being observed.