Christie’s Paris is delighted to present an exhibition of works by My-Lan Hoang-Thuy this September. My-Lan Hoang-Thuy was born in 1990 in Bourg-la-Reine, France. She works and lives in Paris. Graduated from the Beaux-arts de Paris (2018), she was nominated for the Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts in 2018 and participated in the Artpress Biennial of Young Artists at the Musée d'Art Moderne of Saint-Étienne in 2020. My-Lan's work renews the artist's relationship with her medium in that she creates her own support from acrylic drips on which she juxtaposes paint and printed personal photographs. While the choice of format for her works and the use of photography only serve to reinforce the intimate nature of her work, the large amount of space given over to accident and spontaneous gesture plunges us into her imagination. Invited by Simon Baker, My-Lan will open her first solo exhibition at the MEP in 2023.
Christie's: Carte Blanche à My-Lan Hoang-Thuy
"1996. A Wednesday afternoon, bored out of my mind. My father suggests that I watch the complete episodes of Les Misérables on France 2, adapted from Victor Hugo's novel, with Jean Gabin in the title role. Initially reluctant, I finally let myself get carried away by several hours of this black-and-white epopee.
My-Lan Hoang-Thuy (B. 1990), Portrait (diptych), inkjet print, oil paint, acrylic binder, pigments, 2023
2023. I read the original work and understood what strangely captivated the child I was then: the author's ability to observe the human blade and transcribe it with such acuity.
In primary school, for my part, uninspired by the human beings who surrounded me, namely my daughter, whose history has been tumultuous, I watched the Spice Girls. I was Asian and poor, they were Caucasian, rich and famous. These artists were the product of a cultural construction that went hand in hand with a communication plan that transformed their lifestyle into a veritable art of living. Beyond the song, their entire universe conveyed a philosophy encapsulated in a formula hammered into a slogan: "Girl power".
Over the years, my family still being what it was, the Spice Girls gave way in turn to other figures whose way of thinking and living I enjoyed dissecting. I got into the habit of observing anyone outside my family circle with great care, not to imitate but to understand. Understanding what was behind other people's paradigm of thought gave me the keys to twisting a social and economic model in which I felt I belonged and above all, in which I too could create my own language.
When Christie's invited me to bring together a corpus of works that were significant for my work, I remembered these figures. Another piece of evidence emerged: all I could think of were men. I'd grown up in a world where, unfortunately, the most widely disseminated history only remembered men. In the art world, the "girl power" of my childhood had left plenty of room for boys, who were no less deserving of attention because they were talented, intelligent and independent-minded.
The story I'm trying to weave today creates a knot between these men and me. It's by watching their gestures and delving into their questions that I draw resources to nourish my own. The Boys Band presented here includes a Spice Girl".
