Vietnamese artworks offer a personal view — and way to view — the war

As a college senior, in one of his what-do-I-do-with-my-life moments, Dinh Q. Lê, a young Vietnamese-American artist, was musing over the difficulties of straddling two cultures.

Then the idea hit him. He sought an empty classroom, cleared the desks aside and plopped down his portfolio of blown-up images of the Vietnam War and pop culture — images that colored his life.

Slowly, with an exacto knife, he cut those images into strands. And like the way his aunt made grass mats in his homeland, Lê wove those cultural strands into tapestries.

The result is a nationally acclaimed collection based on "photoweaving" — intricately layered collages of haunting war images and Andy Warhol-like pop art that explore the fallout of the war and an East-meets-West theme.

His exhibit, "A Tapestry of Memories," at Bellevue Arts Museum, runs until Dec. 30. Another Vietnamese-American artist, An-My Lê (no relation) showcases her war photos at the Henry Art Gallery until Nov. 4.

Art relating to the Vietnam War has drawn attention lately, especially on the West Coast, due mostly to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, several curators said.

Vietnamese artists now are showcased at many art galleries, museums and universities beyond the usual exhibits that mark the anniversaries of the Vietnam War.

Many modern Vietnamese artworks take on themes of death, nostalgia, assimilation and the aftermath of military conflict, so these "works become more relevant to galleries during time of war," said Dinh Q. Lê from his studio in Vietnam.

It's arguably the most visibility Vietnamese artists have received since the famous Hanoi painters, billed as "The Gang of Five," toured the United States in the late 1990s.

At the Henry, An-My Lê, 47, an assistant professor of photography at New York's Bard College, showcases her collection of war-game photos.

Her series, "Small Wars," focuses on a Vietnam War re-

enactment in rural Virginia. "These were guys who had never been to war. They had desk jobs. One was an accountant. Another was a mortician," the Brooklyn resident said. "Their idea of war came from books, movies and popular literature. ... Others had fathers who were in combat, and they were trying to understand what their fathers went through."

To gain access, Lê played the role of a Viet Cong sniper, dressed in black pajamalike clothing and sandals. The role-playing haunted and terrified the former refugee, harking back to the dead bodies she saw the day after the historic Tet Offensive.

Also on view at the Henry, "29 Palms" features young Marines participating in war exercises before departing for Iraq. The pictures were taken on a military base in California, where details such as anti-Bush graffiti on a shack gave the scenes a Hollywood backlot vibe. The black-and-white photos feature sweeping, John Fordesque landscape shots.

Some critics interpret the collection as glorifying war, while others consider it a social commentary on the government's sanitizing of war.

At the Bellevue Arts Museum, Dinh Q. Lê's work appears less ambiguous and more biographical. Lê escaped the war-torn country at 11, eventually graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1989 and then the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, before moving back to Vietnam nine years ago.

"When I was living in America, I never fit in. But then I came back to Vietnam, and I realized that I'm not Vietnamese either. I seemed too Americanized [to the Vietnamese people]. The question is, 'Who the hell am I?' then," the 38-year old artist said, laughing.

His work reflects his internal conflicts.

"He's able to broach difficult subjects in a very sophisticated way," said Melissa Chiu, director of the Asia Society Museum in Manhattan. His work "has many different levels of meanings. For the audience, on the one hand, they might look [just] like beautiful objects. But when you take a closer look, there is another level at play."

Pictures from the Russian roulette scene from "The Deer Hunter" are juxtaposed with Eddie Adams' famed photo of a Vietnamese general executing a prisoner in broad daylight. The MGM lion is woven with a picture of a Playboy bunny from "Apocalypse Now" and a family photo of a Vietnamese girl in traditional dress with paratroopers raining in the background.

His most acclaimed work, also on display in Bellevue, features mug shots of teens who were killed by the Khmer Rouge, photos that were woven with images of temple stone carvings, a memorial to the nameless victims.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com