Textured colour

One of the impressive things about Hanoi we noticed in our recent trip is the burgeoning art industry. Whilst there was a good presence of copy artists and small art galleries we felt that since our first visit in 2004 there has been an explosion of colour - almost every street in the centre of the city has several copy shops or galleries.

Barry Smith © Copy artist Hanoi

Barry Smith © Tree - thick knife texture 

One of the in-vogue art practises is trees using very thick oil paint applied with a painting knife. As you can see from the photos below it can result in very colourful palettes; and great texture in the paintings.

Barry Smith © Palette 1

Barry Smith © Palette 2

Barry Smith © Painting colour texture 1

Barry Smith © Painting colour texture 2

Barry Smith © Painting colour texture 3

Steampunk art movement - learnt something new

Wendy Edsall-Kirwin in a recent blog post posed the question "Am I a Steampunk (artist)?" Quite a few people create art objects using polished brass, iron,and wood with design elements that reflected the early era of steam and mechanical objects. I like many aspects of such work because I like rivets, mechanical bits, brass and copper etc. But I was not aware there was a movement called Steampunk.

My own metal work is in the main based on recycled copper and brass from found objects including mechanical ones such as clocks, pumps, pressure and fuel cylinders and stoves. And copper rivets play a big part both to join bits and as decoration. So I guess a little of the steampunk influence is there.

The photos below are some of the pieces that I think have a bit of steampunk influence; and a photo of my stash of objects that are used top create such pieces.

The bowl is made from the base of a pressure stove and clock parts; the spikey pot includes parts from a spray pump and copper tubing; the incense burner has the corner of a fuel cell and legs of copper soldering irons; and the edgy bowl is rivetted scrap triangles from many objects.



When I checked out some of the work of Steampunk artists and jewelers I quietly rejoiced in the fact that we humans find niches and create tribes and movements which result in interesting art and objects and also create identity.