Several experts, including a revered Swiss art history doctorate holder, have pinpointed the numerous problems that have impeded the Vietnamese art sector from thriving.

Experts, gallery owners, and curators have drawn attention to the hurdles that the local art industry needs to surmount if it is to take off.

Dr. Ildegarda E. Scheidegger

Dr. Ildegarda E. Scheidegger, a respected Swiss fine arts expert, visited Ho Chi Minh City earlier this year.

“International cooperation is crucial if a contemporary art sector is to take off. Insufficient finance keeps art sector insiders from holding events large enough to invite their international colleagues or famed experts to,” Dr. Scheidegger said.

Many Vietnamese tourists shared with her that despite their keenness to visit countries with thriving art scenes and learn from their colleagues there, poor finances have kept them from doing so.

She also pointed to another saddening fact that in a number of places, particularly in Asia, many art collectors tend to consider artwork a commodity which they trade in to gain profits.

This has resulted in their inclination to make art purchases based on market fluctuations or artists’ fame instead of the works’ genuine values, she elaborated.

Veteran artist Le Thiet Cuong suggested that the local art market lacks Vietnamese art investors.

Nguyen Nga, owner of Maison des Arts, a popular art rendezvous in Ha Noi, said local art buyers mostly ‘scavenge’ art items instead of collecting.

Few are willing to spend thousands of U.S. dollars on a genuine artwork, but are not reluctant to spend that sum on a gem painting, which is believed to be auspicious in terms of feng-shui.

People tend to buy copied paintings, which fetch only a few dozen dollars apiece.

Duong Thu Hang, art director of Ha Noi Studio, stressed that the local market has ‘fallen apart’ as galleries are not firmly founded on genuine art buyers or a sound fine arts education.

Most owners of galleries on major streets in Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi have seen a shrinking number of clients in recent years.

Hang underscored the fact that few galleries own truly exclusive rights to artists’ oeuvre.

She signed exclusive contracts with at least six artists, but after a while she noticed that works by these artists were for sale in several other places for undefined reasons.

Hang called for the establishment of a contemporary fine arts museum, which will serve as a guide for the local market.

(Source: tuoitrenews)