When turning stops and Art starts...

[Claude Arragon]

Binh Pho (pronounce Bin Fo), a well know Vietnamese artist, was in France last week during which some of us where meeting to exchange experience and points of view.
Binh discovered wood turning some years ago and soon realized the limits of traditional woodturning. He kept turning long and thin vases (never thicker than 1 or 1,5 mm) as he likes to cut part of the wood with a dentist drill. He paints with an air brush with a flabbergasting precision, and shades part of his work with a soldering machine with very fine blades.
Besides his art, Binh is a person with a very developed sense of humor. This allowed him to survive years of imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese prior to successfully escape to the US. He now leaves in Chicago.


http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Pho%20001T.jpg (http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Pho%20001M.jpg)

http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Pho%20002T.jpg (http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Pho%20002M.jpg)

http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Pho%20003T.jpg (http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Pho%20003M.jpg)

http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Poh%20004T.jpg (http://www.la-truciolara.com/forum/Binh%20Poh%20004M.jpg)

[Rob Bourgeois]

WOW....

Thats about all I can say.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Absolutely Beautiful. WOW. I don't know what else to say Claude. Very nice.

[Patrick Taylor]

He does amazing work. I bet it was great to see it in person!

[Jim Shaver, Oakville Ont]

Hi Claude,

I met him last year at the Louisville AAW symposium. He was a very insightful man to speak with, not only a very gifted turner but also a very nice man.

[Chris Barton]

I agree that his work is very nice and that he is very talented. But, I suppose that another question would be, when is it the turner and not the wood? Bin tends to paint most of his work and the wood appears to be secondary. On the other hand, his work seems very predictable, most pieces have a common theme (thin, cylindrical, considerable carving or piercing and painted). I continue to have challenges with the designation of "art" perhaps because I've never come close to making any...

[Chip Sutherland]

I'm hoping to add this artistic ability to my repatoire. I've already checked out a local art school. I just bought some tints and I've played with oils. Lacking the skills I can only say thanks for the inspiration.

[Lee DeRaud]

I agree that his work is very nice and that he is very talented. But, I suppose that another question would be, when is it the turner and not the wood? Bin tends to paint most of his work and the wood appears to be secondary. On the other hand, his work seems very predictable, most pieces have a common theme (thin, cylindrical, considerable carving or piercing and painted). I continue to have challenges with the designation of "art" perhaps because I've never come close to making any...I like his stuff, and at least the underlying shapes are recognizable as something that came off a lathe.

But there does seem to be a trend these days toward pieces that are (at most) 10% lathe work and the rest some type of carving, to the point where practically anything with curved surfaces made of wood qualifies as a "turning". Is there some problem with having "wooden sculpture" as a separate art category?

[Jim Becker]

Bin has demonstrated at our local AAW chapter. Not only is his work exquisite, he's a really nice guy, too. The combination of his very thin turning, precision piercing and awesome air-brush work is really inspiring.

Oh, if you look at Bin's work carefully and up close, most of the colors are almost always transparent. The wood is still there.

[Claude Arragon]

Some points of his colouring technique: Binh uses transparent water colours. Thus he can (I can’t :( ) develop any colours he wishes to use by overlaying them.

Chris: you are right. The current evolution is to consider the turning phase no more important that polishing or carving or painting. Discussing with Binh he says that what he has in mind to represent is a “painting” that, in this case, is on a cylindrical shape. Then it is quite true, like for most artists, when you see a piece you are sure to discover who realized it. (it was already the case with Michelangelo paintings…)

Lee: I think it will be an endless discussion about: “Is it turning or sculpture”. What I can tell you to my dismay, is that when a “sculpture” exhibition is organised very often the “turned pieces” are not accepted :(

[Bob Boettcher]

Does it matter? If a person used only a table saw, would that be a good thing? We all use a large variety of tools in our craft, yet call ourselves turners. The lathe is a tool, not the only means to an end. If what we like to make is round, then we are happy with the lathe. If we are looking for other possibilities, fine, so be it, and more power to us.

I love to turn, and find great satisfaction in what is revealed in the wood as it is turned, but I also on occasion like to think about what else could I do to this piece to make it even better (whatever that means).

If turning a piece of wood is only the way to get to a starting point for other techniques to create an artistic, or crafty, or 'different' piece, great!

Let's not be turners with blinders on, but rather use the lathe as one of many tools to create something we like, and hopefully others may like as well.

Bob

[Jonathon Spafford]

Binh Pho is super talented... I've always liked his work even though I am often a bit of a purist! I think when it comes to turning vs. crossover art it is just important to do what you enjoy! Along the same lines as what Bob said, if you enjoy doing simple wooden bowls then do it... if you like turning a piece round and carving something square out of it, then do it! It is good to find new ways of doing stuff! I think there are a lot of pieces out there that are a lot less "woodturning" then Bhin's pieces. It takes a bit of work to turn a vessel that thin... so I still consider his stuff in the turning category!

BTW, welcome to the creek, Bob! Good to have ya here! Post often with lots of pix and enjoy yourself!