By James Bacon: Viet Max works through many forms, and he likes to showcase his creativity in contemporary art in a multi-faceted manner, he likes to “break boundaries in order to bring art closer to a larger audience”. (See previous article, “Người Mặt Trời Exhibition by Viet Max and Film by Timothy Linh Búi”.)

On my visit to Ho Chi Minh City, I was keen to take in both historical and local elements, and the US Consulate in the city proved surprisingly to be such a place where these seem to have fused together. A Vietnamese memorial to the Viet Cong who fought in the Tet offensive, and a US plaque commemorating the U.S. Marine and four MP’s killed is located here, as this was the site of the US Embassy, the scene so well burned into the minds of many, with helicopters taking desperate people from the roof during the disastrous evacuation “Frequent Wind” in 1975 as North Vietnamese captured then-Saigon. 

Now some forty-eight years later, with US President Joe Biden and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong meeting in September to elevate relations between the two countries, there was no mistaking that the general sentiment was very positive towards the USA around the city, and I do not just mean the expected corporate elements that all humans seem to desire, from a Starbucks to a KFC, vying with Bubble Tea and locally made fried chicken, but more broadly with US-sponsored activities and ongoings. I cannot speak too much to these, just note what I saw.  

I hadn’t expected the Avengers tower and was especially grateful they this iconic building was not only real, was really in Ho Chi Minh City and also Accessible! 

Hip Hop artist Viet Max had been engaged to create a sequence of pieces reflecting on Vietnam and the USA, and they were presented on the walls of the consulate, with images representing Pride month, how 30,000 Vietnamese students study in the US every year, the Pacific Partnership and diversity and ending discrimination adorn the wall, strong and brilliant, quite large and vibrant. This work ably demonstrates his ability to adjust his style and technique offering quite vivid but also distinctive images. 

I took photographs of the art on public display, and of the consulate from a distance, but was stopped by a well-spoken Vietnamese employee of the US consulate when I took a photo of the Consulate Plaque, as that was not allowed. Neither being a US citizen who might lose their temper at this use of their taxes, nor someone who lacks empathy for fellow employees tasked with questionable bureaucratically deigned tasks, I politely showed them the photo being deleted and wished them well. After all, I had photographed the paintings under the watchful eye of cameras, more staff at the other entrance, and local police in the shed like structure across the road, and all seemed OK, and once again, Art beat boring bureaucracy. Make more art. 

Viet Max is someone whose dynamic art and stretchability, to cater to any artistic situation or offering is quite fantastic, his work is so varied, from design of Airline initiatives appearing on jet planes, to Breakfast cereal box art and art in a huge variety of situations, including an installation piece for the release of Rogue One, he seems so elastic and capable with beauty and brilliance coming through continually, his work is exciting and captures something really special, presenting works of imagination artistically  and well worth checking out further. 

• Viet Max website: https://www.vietmax100.com
• Viet Max Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vietmax100/?hl=en