Tracing Textures and Nightmares: Gate Gate Gallery

Written by Saara Panot

Art has always been a mirror of culture and exploration of identity that carries deep significance. Gate Gate Gallery proves to represent emerging Vietnamese artists domestically as well as international diasporas in their contemporary art space located in a small alley just on Pasteur Street. The name “Gate Gate” is derived from the ancient sanskrit mantra “ga-te, ga-te” which means to go beyond. They have committed to breaking conventional boundaries where traditional perspectives are challenged; aiming to push Vietnamese art to an international audience. The gallery maintains a dynamic calendar of frequent exhibitions where visitors are encouraged to engage in thoughtful discourse through artist talks and curator-led tours. The gallery’s newest exhibition, titled “Never Been Here” is currently being hosted from October 25th to November 29th, sponsored by RMIT University Vietnam, and curated by Ha Chau Bao Nhi.

One of their recent showcases however, was the duo exhibition titled “As if the night could see us” featuring artists Vu Dieu Huong, and Zunng Zunng, curated by Nhi Phan. The space played on the metaphor of nightfall, as the quiet sanctuary where childlike wonder and subconscious anxieties came alive.

The “Fool Circle” by Vu Dieu Huong communicates the cyclical nature of human folly, where the artist recalls her grandfather's childhood cabinet when she was younger, and after returning to her hometown, realises her grandfather merely kept the dolls as decoration in turn, letting them rot in the process. This evokes the loops of memory we repeat. Showing how as we idealize something, we might end up ignoring their true value in the process – just as how Vu’s

“Sieu Nhan Dau Tay” (Strawberry Superhero), created by Zunng Zunng using gouache, coloured pencil, and oil pastel on duplex paper, this piece tugs at the heartstrings of nostalgia. Juxtaposing the grandeur of heroic archetypes with the sugary sweetness of childhood imagination, it plays on make-believe games where a child can armor themselves in a “strawberry suit” and feel invincible against the word.

The choice of pairing these two highly contrasting artists comments on the dedication gone into the space. Showing the viewer varying different interpretations and memory of childhood, how both artists’ versions seem to draw back to the same topic of nostalgia. Centering around how quiet the night feels when there is nothing but memories and one's own thoughts. It is only us as the viewer who decides how we interpret life and all its struggles, and how we can overcome them: for some, it may be through art.