The Aspirational Velocity of Vy Trịnh’s Sculptures

‘ON DA DREAM’, the title of Vy Trịnh’s solo exhibition at Galerie Quynh, is an approximate homophone of Honda Dream, a motorbike model formerly produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer. The Honda Dream quickly became a symbol of newfound economic mobility in Vietnam, where, per the exhibition text, the bike was strategically introduced around 1992, following the Đổi Mới (‘renovation’) market reforms initiated by the Southeast Asian nation in 1986.

The 19 sculptures on view are all inspired by the aspirational velocity of the Honda Dream. Forgoing the fastidious preservation and display of the vintage vehicle as a precious antique, more than half of the works incorporate salvaged mechanical parts found in the Dream and other Honda motorbikes. Upon entering the gallery, visitors encounter ‘Fast ‘n Secure’ (all works 2024), a series of six wall-mounted pieces, each built on the kind of rack typically used to affix items to the bike frame. Trịnh has tricked out these banal parts with resplendent bling: ribbons, rhinestones and plastic beads commonly found in the large garment markets in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5. The spare and perfunctory racks, once relegated to the task of simply securing objects, are made lavish and kinky, with copious ostentatious trinkets dripping precariously from their dazzling new bodies.

Motorbike parts likewise serve as supports for agglomerative additions in Streetlight 1, 2 and 3 – a trio of sculptures displayed on the floor of the mezzanine. In each work, chunky plastic beads, frilly ribbons and steel chains hang like kitschy stalactites from thin steel rods, which spring from a circular disc brake. The rods have been bent in such a way that each sculpture resembles a sumptuously decorated streetlamp, a symbol of top-down urban development. Bountifully festooned with flashy, mass-produced tchotchkes, however, Trịnh’s sculptures evoke instead the unruly excess of the street.

Located on the gallery’s top floor, four sculptures from Trịnh’s ‘Speedy Curve’ series are also superfluously embellished with beads, chains, mesh and ribbons. Surprisingly, the underlying structure of these works comprises humble steel clothing racks – typically used in homes or by street vendors to display their wares – which Trịnh has warped and contorted into exaggerated shapes that mimic a motorbike’s sharp and sudden turns. Displayed alongside these pieces are VISION and FUTURE, sculptures named after and built around the chassis of newer Honda motorbikes.

Trịnh’s dynamic, extravagant works themselves look like automobiles capable of deftly navigating chaotic, rush-hour traffic. Swerving at awkward and abrupt angles, they personify the frenetic activity of the street, producing what the artist described to me as ‘motion without a motor’. Subtle curatorial gestures also encourage action. Interpretive texts by the exhibition’s curator, Thái Hà, are ingeniously printed on wall-mounted, tear-off calendars – the type commonly found in motorbike-repair shops – enabling visitors to take home pieces of the show.

The power of movement is taken to the extreme in Knock Sensor, a site-responsive sculpture that occupies an entire room on the top floor. To make this impressive work, Trịnh drew in space by bending and curving steel bars with her bare hands before installing the resulting steel squiggles from floor to ceiling. It is fitting that this sculpture is named after an internal motorbike part that detects potential engine damage: visitors navigate the metallic maze gingerly, careful to avoid an accident of their own. Styled with selectively placed organza ribbons and rhinestones, the sculpture’s elegant undulations resemble afterimages of sparklers. Knock Sensor epitomizes Trịnh’s conception of, as the artist put it to me, ‘sculpture as a verb’ – a processual and contingent art form that is not encumbered by its presumed fixity.

‘Vy Trịnh: ON DA DREAM’ is on view at Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, until 21 September

^{Main image: ‘Vy Trịnh: ON DA DREAM’, 2024, exhibition view. Courtesy: Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City}