Vietnamese sculptors open outdoor Maine exhibition

By Bob Keyes, Portland Press Herald

By using tree branches as their medium and erecting their sculpture atop an open grass field, the Vietnamese artists Dao Chau Hai and Nguyen Ngoc Lam hope to call attention to man’s delicate balancing act with nature.

Nguyen Ngoc Lam and Dao Chau Hai, visiting sculptors from Hanoi, Vietnam, call their piece at the corner of Casco and Shepley streets in Portland “The Tree Man.

The two artists unveiled their site-specific installation on Friday, inviting people to walk down the long narrow tunnel – made from beech, maple and oak saplings – and consider the human form who hides inside. It is held together with nails.

They call their piece “The Tree Man.”

The twisting sculpture, which measures about 40 feet long, stands in the green space at the corner of Casco and Shepley streets, one block off Congress Street. The small open field is adjacent to an apartment building owned by the Maine College of Art, which helped arrange the installation with Indochina Arts Partnership of Wellesley, Mass.

“We hope this helps people find clear thoughts, so we can become one with nature again,” Hai said through his translator, Long Nguyen.

They unveiled their sculpture with a community celebration Friday afternoon.

C. David Thomas, who grew up in Westbrook and graduated from the Portland School of Art in 1968, directs the partnership. He had planned for Hai and Lam to construct their piece in the Boston area, but those plans fell through. Given his personal connection to MECA and the Portland’s sister-school status with the University of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Vietnam, Portland emerged as a suitable site.

Read the full article by Bob Keyes from Portland Press Herald.