The focus for the show was a series of illusory motion stencil art pieces on canvas and also a mural in the courtyard that will stay up after the exhibition closes. As always my main inspiration was from nature and I hope to promote the protection of the environment in some way with my work.

This is the text that went out with the press release material:

Knee Jerk is a graphic designer, illustrator and stencil artist currently residing in Hanoi. His colourful work ranges from abstract to realistic, minimalist to high detail and anywhere in between. Usually, his designs begin in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and end up as large multilayer stencils that are painstakingly cut by hand before being sprayed onto canvases, walls and other objects.

The focus for the (E)Motion exhibition at Manzi is a series of anomalous motion illusions and other optical art pieces that will make you wonder if you are seeing things or if in reality it is the artwork that is itself moving! As with all of Knee Jerk's work there is a social and environmental commentary within the pieces and rather than having a knee jerk (automatic) reaction to the work, the artist urges you to think about the art and it's context to understand more fully the juxtaposition of geometric beauty and hidden meanings.

This is the artist's first solo show and features a new body of work that promises to deliver a fresh taste of something you probably haven't seen before - in what is the first gallery exhibition of stencil art in Vietnam's history.

 

Please come to the opening of Knee Jerk's (E)Motion exhibition at Manzi from 6pm on Wednesday 25th September. The exhibition will run until October 7th.

Event Poster:

The mural in the courtyard of Manzi Art Space is called 'Crying Langur'. The idea behind it is that this local endangered primate is crying because his family are being wiped out :

Digital sketch of 'Crying Langur'.

His eyes and mouth should appear to spin...dripping tears in the process:

The making of 'Crying Langur', a time lapse video:

'Crying Langur' in the courtyard of Manzi, Hanoi - approx 2.5m X 2.5m:
 

Setting up the exhibition inside Manzi:

Upon entering the building the first piece to be seen is 'Polluted Water'. It looks at the way that we are contaminating our water sources at a faster rate than ever before and urges people to think about the impact that this will have on our unique planet:

'Polluted Water' - Digital sketch.

This piece should appear to shift about like waves or choppy water:

'Polluted Water' on display - 3 canvases, each 1.4m X 1.7m:

Opening night:

If we have 'Polluted Water' it just so happens that the next piece to appear is 'Unsafe Food', because if we use contaminated water for our food production how can that food be safe for consumption? The flowers which represent the food in this piece should appear to spin, as if they are contaminated with toxic waste...

'Unsafe Food' - Digital sketch. The rings of circles in this piece seem to spin, the larger outer circles in one direction and the smaller inner circles in the opposite direction:

Work in Progress:

'Unsafe Food' on display - 5 canvases, each 1m X 1m:

Opening night:

'Infinate Conundrum' was painted as a hybrid design of a Penrose triangle and an Ouchi illusion, and as we try to make sense of the damage we are doing to the environment this piece maybe suggests to us that in the same way that it is hard to understand this piece, there is also no easy solution to this difficult to solve problem. The triangle should appear to vibrate or hovver above the background:

'Infinite Conundrum' - Digital sketch and colour options:

Chosen colour scheme:

As work in progress:

'Infinite Conundrum' on display -  1m X 0.8m:

Opening night:

In a similar style, is 'Ancient Remedy'. It's a piece that was painted with more hope for solving some of the environmental issues that we face in the near future. The hexagon should also appear to vibrate/pulsate above the black and white background:

Chosen colour scheme:

As work in progress:

'Ancient Remedy' on display -  1m X 0.8m:

Vietnamese TV report of the exhibition with some nice shots:

Thank you for looking!