VH Anthony Vue draws from his Hmong heritage to explore ways in which aspects of the past can continue to infect and inform the present. The Hmong culture thrives in enclaves right across the globe. With no specific country to call their own, and robbed of their written language, over the centuries members of the dispersed Hmong communities have succeeded in thriving and developing their culture in myriad forms. Often confined to the margins, or recognised as part of a ‘minority culture’, Hmong cultural forms have flourished in rich and imaginative ways, transforming traditional colours and patterns in ways that come to terms with, and yet stand apart from, the host culture to which they richly contribute.
Vue is a contemporary artist who recognises and celebrates this in his own work through a range of series that are carefully researched and inventively reinterpreted. Drawing from his own personal situation (he currently works in Bunnings and commutes to a range of places to make site-specific work while maintaining his studies in research studio practice at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University) he references art history, contemporary street culture and a DIY approach to life and art in works that are explosively patterned, vibrantly coloured and scrupulously researched.
Vue’s energetic and passionate approach to his art practice offers us glimpses of those places where tradition impacts on the everyday aspects of the contemporary world in ways that are celebratory, surprising, visually challenging and that prompt us to consider the importance of cultural survival and reinterpretation as important tools in joining us to each other and to the planet we share.
Text by Pat Hoffie
