Đinh Ý Nhi

Đinh Ý Nhi (Hanoi, 1967) is a Vietnamese woman painter.^[1][2][3] She graduated from Hanoi University of Fine Arts in 1989. She achieved during the 1990s early success with two-colour, red or black and white paintings addressing modern themes an issues and devoid of gender. Like Đỗ Thị Ninh she refuses to be labelled a "woman artist."^[4][5] Later she married, moved to Da Nang and changed her style completely.

She began to incorporate elements of popular culture in her art when Western goods became more available in Vietnam.^[6]

References

1. Đinh Ý Nhi: 'Vẽ là kể một câu chuyện giản dị' 2003
2. Charlotte Guillain Vietnam 2013 Page 38 "Famous Vietnamese people: Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988), painter Dinh Y Nhi (born 1967), artist"
3. Connaissance des arts: Volumes 549-551 1998 "Prenant la relève de «la Bande des Cinq», encore sensible à toute une culture rurale du Nord, des figures marquantes tels Truong Tan ou Din Y Nhi pratiquent à Hanoï une peinture sans concession. Usant du seul noir et blanc, ils interrogent au moyen du graffitis ou de techniques répétitives des sujets d'actualités, comme le Sida ou la condition féminine. "
4. Nora A. Taylor Painters in Hanoi: An Ethnography of Vietnamese Art 2004 Page 104 "Dinh Y Nhi (born 1967; Hanoi University of Fine Arts graduate 1989), like Do Thi Ninh, refuses to be labeled "a woman artist." She also refuses to follow the "rules" for either female or male artists. She doesn't paint on silk, nor does she paint with watercolors, or any color for that matter. Her paintings are black-and-white gouaches on paper. They display none of the elements that would be considered feminine by her peers. "
5. first published in Dinah Dysart, Hannah Fink Asian women artists 1996 "They display none of the elements thai would be considered feminine' by her peers. Her figures are ... Not that every viewer who gazes at a painting attaches these symbols to it, but they are too powerful for Nhi to ignore. She prefers to have a "neutral" gaze on her paintings. Colors are, to her, gendered. Painting in black and white and various shades of gray gives her the freedom to transcend gender categories, to be just herself rather than of a particular sexual identity. She fashions her figures without gender too..."
6. Smithsonian Institution. (1995). An ocean apart : contemporary Vietnamese art from the United States and Vietnam = Nghìn trùng xa cách : mỹ thuật đương đại Việt Nam ở Hoa Kỳ và ở Việt Nam. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Traveling Exhibition Service. pp. 32–33. ISBN 1570980551.