artLIVE – The exhibition ‘Christ, Buddha, and the Jigsaw’ by artist Bui Thanh Tam will take place at Chillala House of Art (HCMC), showcasing nearly 50 of his latest works. This milestone marks a bold creative journey, where traditional painting language, contemporary digital techniques, and cultural identity are reconstructed through evocative puzzle pieces.
Bui Thanh Tam’s artistic transformation
For over a decade, art lovers have been familiar with Bui Thanh Tam through renowned series such as “Crazy Men” (2010-2014) and “Vietnamese Girls” (2010-2017).
During those periods, Tâm emerged as a sharp observer, using the language of painting to satirize cultural clashes, the grotesquerie of consumer society, and the conflict between local values and the wave of pop culture in Asia.
However, with “Christ, Buddha, and the Jigsaw,” viewers will encounter a very different Bui Thanh Tam. After five years (2020-2025) of introspection and contemplation, he has expanded his vision beyond the boundaries of daily social issues to touch upon more universal and philosophical themes.
No longer confined to stories of human nature and worldly affairs, Tam now dialogues with war and peace, information overload, and especially the spiritual intersection between East and West.
The Jigsaw: The fragmentation of identity
The core highlight of this exhibition lies in its very title: “The Jigsaw.” This is not merely a visual technique but a grand metaphor for the human condition in the modern world.
Tâm’s creative process in this series is a complex journey of construction and deconstruction. He begins by painting “iconic” cultural and religious symbols such as Christ, Buddha, or the Statue of Liberty. Immediately after, he intervenes by layering folk images from the woodblock archives of Đông Hồ, Kim Hoàng, and Hàng Trống.
The appearance of Northern folk materials against the backdrop of global symbols creates a visual effect fraught with controversy regarding “cultural appropriation.” Yet, the pinnacle of this intervention lies in the act of cutting the painting surfaces into jigsaw puzzle pieces and replacing some segments with alien materials.
This action evokes the fracture, the deficiency, and the ceaseless effort of modern humans to patch things together in search of a complete identity. We, like the artist’s paintings, are assembled from countless fragments of culture, religion, tradition, and technology, yet seem never to be truly complete.
A dialogue between the “Original” and the “Derivative”
This exhibition marks the first time Bui Thanh Tam has displayed original collage paintings alongside digitalized works on paper. This is a bold move, directly challenging the concept of the “artwork.”
Curated by Phil Zheng Cai and veteran art critic Richard Vine, the exhibition opens up profound philosophical discussions. Viewers will see traces of Walter Benjamin’s ideas on the “cult value” of unique works versus the “exhibition value” of mass-produced copies.
When the artist photographs the collaged painting, processes it via digital applications, and prints it, he poses the question: What is reality? Is it the physical oil painting or the sharp but soulless digital image? This resonates strongly with Plato’s Theory of Forms or the Buddhist concept of the Veil of Maya obscuring the truth. In a world where the real and the virtual intertwine, the separation between “matter” and “divinity,” between “truth” and “chaos,” becomes more fragile than ever.
When religion appears on the political chessboard
Alongside nearly 50 paintings and prints, the space at Chillala House of Art also features sculptures shaped like bombs and chess pieces. The presence of these three-dimensional objects acts as weighty exclamation points within the exhibition’s entirety.
If the paintings speak to spiritual life (Christ, Buddha), the bombs and chess pieces drag the viewer back to the brutal reality of geopolitical mind games and nuclear threats. They remind us that, no matter how humans seek salvation in religion or identity in culture, the specter of conflict and war remains ever-present as part of the world’s “game.”
“Christ, Buddha, and the Jigsaw” is an exhibition space that demands viewers to slow down and reflect. With the endorsement of two internationally renowned curators and the artist’s five years of serious creation, this promises to be a visual art event well worth witnessing.
Artist Bui Thanh Tam, born in 1979, graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 2009. Currently living and working in Hanoi, he is one of the contemporary Vietnamese artists with international influence, his mark affirmed through a series of solo exhibitions.
Photo: Gate Gate Gallery
