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Nguyễn Duy Mạnh

Phách Lạc (Lost Spirits) I, table no. 3. Carp transforming into Dragon, 2024

hand painted ceramic, fired in Bat Trang pottery village

30 x 30 x 3.9 cm (11.81 x 11.81 x 1.54 in)

Inv: NDM_2024-002

€3,000

[FR] Dans cette œuvre, Nguyễn Duy Mạnh mobilise le motif traditionnel de la carpe se transformant en dragon, un symbole profondément ancré dans la culture d’Asie de l’Est, associé à la persévérance, à l’élévation et à la réussite par la transformation.

Ce récit est interrompu par une découpe physique. La surface céramique est fragmentée et recomposée en plat, brisant la continuité de l’image. La transformation de la carpe est suspendue, son corps déstabilisé et mis à nu.

Inscrite dans le dispositif du banquet de Phách Lạc, l’œuvre devient à la fois offrande et critique. Le plat invite au partage, mais présente un symbole fracturé. La promesse de transformation reste inachevée, révélant une condition où le patrimoine culturel n’est plus intact, mais fragmenté, consommé et réinterprété.
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[EN] In this work, Nguyễn Duy Mạnh draws on the traditional motif of the carp transforming into a dragon, a symbol deeply rooted in East Asian culture and associated with perseverance, ascension, and success through transformation.

This narrative is disrupted by a physical cut. The ceramic surface is fragmented and reconfigured into a dish, breaking the continuity of the image. The carp’s transformation is suspended, its body destabilized and exposed.

Within the banquet structure of Phách Lạc, the work becomes both offering and critique. The dish invites sharing, yet what is presented is a fractured symbol. The promise of transformation remains incomplete, reflecting a broader condition in which cultural heritage is no longer intact, but divided, consumed, and reinterpreted.

About the artist

Nguyễn Duy Mạnh

Vietnamese

b. 1984

Nguyễn Duy Mạnh (b. 1984, Vietnam) a graduate of the College of Education with a specialization in Fine Arts teaching, Duy Mạnh is a member of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association. Since 2006, he has worked with diverse media and materials including painting, fabric, found objects, and ceramics. In his work, he strives to reveal the spiritual life of objects and matter through manipulation and the arrangement of exhibition spaces.
Through his practice, Nguyễn Duy Mạnh seeks to highlight the vulnerability and disintegration of cultural values. He reflects the trauma that unsettles the spiritual life of individuals confronted with contemporary realities. His ceramics draw inspiration primarily from the Chu Đậu ceramic style. The artist reinvents this traditional practice by painting motifs from the Lý-Trần period (11th–14th centuries) and the Lê Sơ dynasty (15th century). Yet, these works also carry a subtle critique of contemporary Vietnamese society, where traditional values of respect and community collide with individualism, materialism, and consumerism.

A selection of his exhibitions includes: Art Paris, 2026; First Bone, Then Skin…, Galerie Bao, 2025; Dirty & Disorderly: Contemporary Artists on Disgust, MASSMoCA, Massachusetts, 2025; Untamed Souls, Galerie BAO, Paris, 2024; Becoming Alice: Through The Metal Tunnel, The Outpost, Hanoi, 2024; The Inner Space, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, 2016; Yin and Yang in Contemporary Sculpture, The Muse Art Space, Hanoi, 2023; Vietnam National Fine Arts Exhibition, Hoa Lư, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2020; Bịt mắt bắt dê, Ngo Quyen Art Center, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2019; among others.
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