Love Is Like the Blue Sky or the Lotus
| Artist | Dinh Thi Tham Poong (Vietnamese, b. 1970) |
|---|---|
| Title | Love Is Like the Blue Sky or the Lotus |
| Date | 2005 |
| Medium | Watercolor and gold leaf on dó paper |
| Dimensions | Image (edges are uneven): 32 1/4 x 25 in. (81.92 x 63.5 cm) Sheet (edges are uneven): 32 1/4 x 25 in. (81.92 x 63.5 cm) Framed (Exhibition Frame): 41 1/8 x 33 1/8 x 1 1/2 in. (104.46 x 84.14 x 3.81 cm) |
| Credit Line | Gift of Dr. Jane Fortune, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 2019.44 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
Three figures meld together in the center of the composition. Leafy patterns and a cloudy sky pattern fill the overlapping areas on the center figure. The background is a large brown pattern of stripes and leaves.
Dinh Thi Tham Poong creates mixed-media paintings on handmade Vietnamese Dó paper
with a collage-like layering of figures, patterns, and shapes that blurs the boundaries between the real and imaginary. While influenced by European abstract art and Japanese woodblock prints, Poong’s work is deeply rooted in her Thai and Muong heritage and her childhood in the remote, mountainous Lai Chau province of northwestern Vietnam.
This painting explores the interconnectedness of humanity and the natural world, revealing
the artist’s belief that there is no fundamental difference between them. Individual identities are subsumed in a surreal assemblage of human figures and trees; textile-like foliate patterns and a cloudscape meld with the traditional attire of Vietnamese ethnic minorities. The bright color palette is tempered by the earth tones of pigments made from rocks and sediment from the Red River that connects Vietnam’s northwestern provinces to the capital Hanoi—where Poong lives and works. Poong uses gold leaf to suggest illumination, enlightenment, and love—as reflected in the painting’s title.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Love Is Like the Blue Sky or the Lotus | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2019.44