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| Jenny Do |
2005 Individual Grant recipient from Belle Foundation for Cultural Devleopment
| 300 South First Street, Suite 310 San Jose, California 95113 (408) 455-0175 |
A recurrent motif in the work of Jenny Do is a divided canvas, with the
sharply demarcated regions presenting the viewer with two aspects of a
single reality. "Battle of the Sexes," "Venus" and "Galloping to Reality" are
all cleaved by color and texture into two distinct regions that nevertheless
cohere as a single whole.
Before understanding the paintings, it is crucial to understand the
worldview from which they spring. Jenny Do, perhaps more than any other
GreenRice Gallery artist, understands the divided aspect of reality. Many
Vietnamese have had to struggle with a life of exile, but she is even more
innately divided than most: The daughter of a U.S. soldier and
Vietnamese mother, she finds herself continuously at odds with any
culture, while finding beauty in all of them.
Jenny Do survived her childhood of unimaginable hardship and became
one of the first Amerasian children to arrive in the United States under the
Amerasian Home Coming Act. She arrived at age 18 and began learning
English. She started working immediately at menial jobs while setting up a
support network for other newly-arrived Amerasian children called The
Vietnamese-Amerasian Family. Her involvement in the Amerasian
settlement in the U.S. led her to be one of the guests on the Oprah
Winfrey show. Ultimately, working during the day, raising a child and
attending night classes, she became an attorney, where she has focused
on obtaining justice for the legally underrepresented minorities in Silicon
Valley. While that work has been satisfying, it did not fulfill her urge to
explore and explain the story of the Amerasian experience, and so she
turned to art. Our culture has been enriched as a result.
The artist's hard-won perspective is visible in all her canvases. "The
Battle of the Sexes" is better understood if we realize that fishes are
representative of feminity and bananas of masculinity. Here, not only are
both elements represented, they are shown in completely contrasting
ways: The fish is large, brightly colored and lit from above, while the fruits
are smaller, almost sepia-toned and lit from the viewer's perspective. And
yet, for all their differences, they are intimately connected. Indeed, the
fish's head disappears, but not out of the frame -- rather, it is hidden
behind the 'male' side of the picture. The bananas that are touched by
the fish have changed color -- a witty celebration of how men and women
differ, and what they bring to one another.
"Galloping to Reality" also displays the hallmark divided canvas. In this
case, there is less color contrast, but the 'unreal' side is painted in dreamy
soft focus while 'reality' is harder, colder, but vivid with detail. Again, while
the two halves are sharply differentiated, there are areas of overlap --
some sharp detail in the horse's mane, and soft reds in the background on
the left pull the two parts into one another, demonstrating that dreaming
and cold facts are both essential components of our lives.
Finally, "Venus" pays homage to the famous Botticelli painting. What is
literal flesh and blood in the original becomes the essential Vietnamese
elements of earth, air, water and fire in Do's version. Rather than blowing
in from the sea, as Western mythology has it, she changes from
seductress to nurturer, provider of all that is required to sustain life. Thus
we are presented with the long view, the famous patience and resolve
evident in Vietnamese society, which is less concerned with procreation
and more interested in how to carry on afterwards.
Male and female. Dreams and achievements. Birth and death. When
shined through the brilliant prism of Jenny Do's artwork, the complexity of
our existence is cause for celebration.
--Justin Gaynor, Ph.D
sharply demarcated regions presenting the viewer with two aspects of a
single reality. "Battle of the Sexes," "Venus" and "Galloping to Reality" are
all cleaved by color and texture into two distinct regions that nevertheless
cohere as a single whole.
Before understanding the paintings, it is crucial to understand the
worldview from which they spring. Jenny Do, perhaps more than any other
GreenRice Gallery artist, understands the divided aspect of reality. Many
Vietnamese have had to struggle with a life of exile, but she is even more
innately divided than most: The daughter of a U.S. soldier and
Vietnamese mother, she finds herself continuously at odds with any
culture, while finding beauty in all of them.
Jenny Do survived her childhood of unimaginable hardship and became
one of the first Amerasian children to arrive in the United States under the
Amerasian Home Coming Act. She arrived at age 18 and began learning
English. She started working immediately at menial jobs while setting up a
support network for other newly-arrived Amerasian children called The
Vietnamese-Amerasian Family. Her involvement in the Amerasian
settlement in the U.S. led her to be one of the guests on the Oprah
Winfrey show. Ultimately, working during the day, raising a child and
attending night classes, she became an attorney, where she has focused
on obtaining justice for the legally underrepresented minorities in Silicon
Valley. While that work has been satisfying, it did not fulfill her urge to
explore and explain the story of the Amerasian experience, and so she
turned to art. Our culture has been enriched as a result.
The artist's hard-won perspective is visible in all her canvases. "The
Battle of the Sexes" is better understood if we realize that fishes are
representative of feminity and bananas of masculinity. Here, not only are
both elements represented, they are shown in completely contrasting
ways: The fish is large, brightly colored and lit from above, while the fruits
are smaller, almost sepia-toned and lit from the viewer's perspective. And
yet, for all their differences, they are intimately connected. Indeed, the
fish's head disappears, but not out of the frame -- rather, it is hidden
behind the 'male' side of the picture. The bananas that are touched by
the fish have changed color -- a witty celebration of how men and women
differ, and what they bring to one another.
"Galloping to Reality" also displays the hallmark divided canvas. In this
case, there is less color contrast, but the 'unreal' side is painted in dreamy
soft focus while 'reality' is harder, colder, but vivid with detail. Again, while
the two halves are sharply differentiated, there are areas of overlap --
some sharp detail in the horse's mane, and soft reds in the background on
the left pull the two parts into one another, demonstrating that dreaming
and cold facts are both essential components of our lives.
Finally, "Venus" pays homage to the famous Botticelli painting. What is
literal flesh and blood in the original becomes the essential Vietnamese
elements of earth, air, water and fire in Do's version. Rather than blowing
in from the sea, as Western mythology has it, she changes from
seductress to nurturer, provider of all that is required to sustain life. Thus
we are presented with the long view, the famous patience and resolve
evident in Vietnamese society, which is less concerned with procreation
and more interested in how to carry on afterwards.
Male and female. Dreams and achievements. Birth and death. When
shined through the brilliant prism of Jenny Do's artwork, the complexity of
our existence is cause for celebration.
--Justin Gaynor, Ph.D
Battle of the Sexes
oil on canvas
28 x 38
oil on canvas
28 x 38
Galloping to Reality 2004
oil on canvas
48 x 60
oil on canvas
48 x 60
Venus 2005
oil on canvas
26 x 38
oil on canvas
26 x 38
Time and Sensuality
oil on canvas
oil on canvas
Boticelli’s Venus, the ancient Venus de Milo, and most other artistic depictions of the goddess of love are
representations that emphasize the female beauty in the flesh, in accordance to the male gaze. For Jenny
Do, the goddess of love deserves more than such one-dimensional treatment.
Jenny looks for a beauty that is omnipresent and enduring. Putting together elements borrowed from nature,
Jenny was able to attain a composition that suggests the shape of a woman, and in this particular case, that
of the Venus de Milo. Venus is as mysterious as the sea and as intimate as the earth, and she is at the same
time powerful and nurturing. She is faceless, as her beauty transcends the describable.
Jenny often resorts to the “dynamic of the opposites” to compose her works. She explores static contrasts of
basic elements as well as active conflicts of movements. She shares Piet Mondrian’s belief that relations of
opposites as “primordial relations” in nature. But while Mondrian used geometric vertical and horizontal lines
to demarcate the opposing elements, Jenny depicts her opposite elements in their natural forms, and looks
for ways to contrast or combine them into a new form. Thus male/female, black/white, vertical/horizontal,
large/small, and all other relations of opposites are meaningless unless and until such relations produce
another form of existence.
In Venus’s case, Jenny merely combines two different natural elements, the sea and the earth, to produce
her desired result. The mystery of the sea contrasts with the intimacy of the earth; the same can be said
about water and soil. Jenny’s Venus is not the conventional portrayal of a voluptuous woman. Rather, she is
the one who can understand and explain the primordial relation of the opposites, as she herself was born
from such relation.
representations that emphasize the female beauty in the flesh, in accordance to the male gaze. For Jenny
Do, the goddess of love deserves more than such one-dimensional treatment.
Jenny looks for a beauty that is omnipresent and enduring. Putting together elements borrowed from nature,
Jenny was able to attain a composition that suggests the shape of a woman, and in this particular case, that
of the Venus de Milo. Venus is as mysterious as the sea and as intimate as the earth, and she is at the same
time powerful and nurturing. She is faceless, as her beauty transcends the describable.
Jenny often resorts to the “dynamic of the opposites” to compose her works. She explores static contrasts of
basic elements as well as active conflicts of movements. She shares Piet Mondrian’s belief that relations of
opposites as “primordial relations” in nature. But while Mondrian used geometric vertical and horizontal lines
to demarcate the opposing elements, Jenny depicts her opposite elements in their natural forms, and looks
for ways to contrast or combine them into a new form. Thus male/female, black/white, vertical/horizontal,
large/small, and all other relations of opposites are meaningless unless and until such relations produce
another form of existence.
In Venus’s case, Jenny merely combines two different natural elements, the sea and the earth, to produce
her desired result. The mystery of the sea contrasts with the intimacy of the earth; the same can be said
about water and soil. Jenny’s Venus is not the conventional portrayal of a voluptuous woman. Rather, she is
the one who can understand and explain the primordial relation of the opposites, as she herself was born
from such relation.
| Copyright (c) 2005 GreenRice Gallery. All rights reserved. |
