Using traditional weaving techniques, Le creates unique works using cibachrome photographs which he has composed from appropriated images. The images in this work come from such diverse sources as documentary shots from news archives, film stills from movies about the Vietnam war, and vintage photographs found in old book stores in Saigon.
Waking Dreams
- also showing: Stephen Hayes and Cris Moss
March 21 - April 26, 2003
Waking Dreams features new work by internationally-renowned artist Dinh Q. Lê.
Lê, who lives in Vietnam, holds an MFA in Photography from the School of
Visual Arts in New York and was recently selected for inclusion in the
upcoming 50th Venice Biennale. Using traditional weaving techniques, Lê
creates unique works using cibachrome photographs which he has composed from
appropriated images.
The images in this work come from such diverse sources as
documentary shots from news archives, film stills from movies about the
Vietnam war, and vintage photographs found in old book stores in Saigon. His
meticulous handcrafting produces complex and beautiful photomontages,
revealing transposed images and patterned texture.
In the process of weaving together such powerful images, Lê often merges
dichotomies: fact and fiction, past and present, life and death, east and
west. In this most recent body of work the artist continues to delve into
themes involving Vietnam: Hollywood’s depiction of the Vietnam war,
contemporary Vietnam, the romanticism of Vietnam, and lingering wounds from
the war.
Dinh Q. Le
Dinh Q. Lê has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. His
work is included in the permanent collections of The San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Bronx Museum, the J.B. Speed
Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the Ford Foundation. This is Lê’s
third solo exhibition at Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Elizabeth Leach Gallery
207 SW Pine Street Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503.224.0521 Fax: 503.224.0844