Feminine Shadow Sanh Bian Research Paper

BóNG LẠI CÁI (FEMININE SHADOW) BóNG LẠI CÁI was the name of this art show created by artist Sanh Brian Tran. The name means “Feminine Shadow”. Sanh Brian Tran had shown different collections, which are all self-portraits. For example, there was a collection of first ladies, and the army wives of the 1950’s. As well as some other collections. All very interesting, all had their own uniqueness to them. After the gallery talk, I had asked if he took the pictures himself or if he had help, he responded with saying “that he takes them himself, he sets up everything up and then takes the pictures himself. Which is very interesting that he does it all himself. One of my favorite collections was the “in the bedroom”. All of the bedrooms were older looking bedrooms, and what made them interesting was you see part of the room but to see the artist in the picture you have to look in the mirror. Not only does the mirror show the character he is portraying, but it also gives
an extended view of the room that the audience would not see otherwise. In the same way, there is a lot of other details. In all the pictures, when first looking at the pictures all look different. But when looking closer, some of the furniture is the same, even some photos are of the same room with different poses and different angles. but different decorations are placed in each. He also used different lighting to change the effect of each photograph. Another one of my favorite collections was the “Scratch” My favorite out of all was one that the character was baking, and looking at a cookbook. Again, one can tell how much detail goes in to the placing and objects and the poses each object has. Those photographs truly represent a different time. He describes this collection as “domestic acts and scratch at the performance of race, ethnicity, and sexuality” Another collection he had was the “First Lady”, “I explore the space between the immigrant's American Dream and the immigrant’s reality”, “In these photographs I envisioned a new American Dream available to me as an immigrant gay Asian male”. These photos stood out because they represent more than just photographs, they represent so much more. Another collection was “Uncanny Valley of the Dolls”, “I am especially interested in creating characters who occupy the uneasy space between the familiar and the unfamiliar by removing the biological and genetic signifiers of race and gender”. When I first seen this picture I didn’t really understand what was going on, then he explained what he was going for and, I thought it was extremely interesting. One cannot tell if the person’s gender, race, and anything. In my opinion the best part of the show was the gallery talk.
When you first look at the pictures, you wonder what the inspiration for the different collections was. Well after listening to him telling his story and him talking about the different collections and how he got the ideas for each, and what they represent is amazing. Not only that but it also gives a new prospection to the artwork. All of the collections that was shown at the show of BóNG LẠI CÁI were all so good. My personal favorites were “In the bedroom”, “Scratch”. Every collection had an its own uniqueness to it. Sanh Brian Tran is a very good artist, with interesting story. It still amazes me that he does it all himself, a lot of time and effort has to go into every single picture, from setting up the background, to getting himself dressed and to actually taking the picture. I would defiantly would recommend anyone to go see a show of his, and I myself would be interested in seeing another show, or seeing more work from
him.