V I E T N A M : a second glance

Tonight I'm showing recent personal work, photographs from Vietnam, in multi-media format at BoBo Gallery, Asheville, NC at 8:30pm---hope to see you there!

Thanks to Jason Sandford, multi-media editor at the Mountain Xpress, for the write-up about the show, which can be read here.

"VIETNAM: more than war" bamboo scrolls hang at LEAF

This weekend, if you are out at the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) please check out the "VIETNAM: more than war" series, on display at the Barn. The above self-portrait, with two of the bamboo scrolls in the backdrop, is from my apartment in Brooklyn, where I stayed the month of August 2007, before bringing the pieces back to Asheville to paint over them, which you can see at the festival.

VRE Mission = Success

After five days of intense travel and hard work with the Vietnam Relief Effort, I am quite pleased to report that it was a very successful venture for all involved. In Tien Giang, 700 students received medical check-ups, medicine, and gifts all provided by VRE, a charity organization based in New York, and KPMG Limited, an accounting firm based in Ho Chi Minh City...It was a joy to interact with the kids, making photos along the way, sharing them to the kids as much as possible in efforts to boost their self-esteem (next time I would like to take a small printer to make copies on-site to give back to them). We also visited a school in Ben Tre, where as soon as we exited the car we entered an opening ceremony for a school donated by VRE, complete with musical performances, speeches, more giving of gifts to and fro, and followed by an authentic meal accompanied with home-brewed sake, a favorite of mine. Very hospitable and thankful everyone was, as I, to be included. Then we traveled to Long An, taking a skinny boat on the Mekong River, to visit a potential school site where the kids will have to boat-pull to go there if built....amazing. Once arriving back to HCMC we rested and celebrated with dinner, preparing for a trip to Phu Yen, via private charter (my first experience, most welcomed), where we attended another school opening. This school was donated by John Altorelli and he was the honored guest of the day, no doubt about it, and well-deserved. Here are several images from the days mentioned:

Saigon Portraits: A Warm Welcome

Sometimes you try, sometimes you let go, and sometimes you just be.









Images made around 7am -- 3/1/08

Regeneration

First of all I'd like to thank everyone who came out on Veterans Day, November 11th to the LG Gallery for their support in making the first "Vietnam: more than war" exhibition such a successful event. Ticket sales were high along with calendars, t-shirts, and prints. We raised a fair amount of money for the Tran Family and the Vietnam Relief Effort, but this is still a work in progress. The t-shirts, 2007 calendars, and limited edition prints are now available on this site, get them while you can!

Some of the large format scrolls have been on display at Salsa's, downtown Asheville, check them out if you haven't already. We are currently putting together a media packet to entice other galleries across the US to host the exhibition. Also, we will be adding video from the show on our website, so check back soon!

ps - The t-shirt that i'm wearing in the photo above is from AHN OI, a great resource for Vietnam inspired clothing.