An exhibition of contemporary art exploring female iconography and sexuality has opened at the Ha Noi Goethe Institute.

Venus in Viet Nam features sculptures created by Vu Dan Tan and Nguyen Nghia Cuong, two artists from different generations who both have a similar perspective on how women and sexuality are explored in Southeast Asian art, and how these ideas become conduits for bigger themes. The figure of Venus is widely used in the art on display.

"When you see Tan's work you notice he is actually using the icon of Venus to discuss many ideas...he was one of the great pioneers and very skilled at using iconography to talk about ideas relevant to all Vietnamese," said Iola Lenzi, who is curating the exhibition together with Natasha Kraevs-kaja.

The event has been organised to commemorate the third anniversary of Tan's death this Sunday, and is displaying some of his works for the very first time in Viet Nam. Much of this comes from his two series Venus and Fashion which he worked on in the years before his death in 2009. He is widely regarded as being one of the leading figures in Vietnamese contemporary art.

Tan (1946-2009) became a self-taught artist, and worked as an animator at the cartoon film studio of Viet Nam national television during the 70s, and contributing to Cuban television.

In 1981 he established a private studio which became a meeting place for Ha Noi intellectuals. In 1990 this was reborn as Natasha salon, Ha Noi's first private gallery and an artist-run space specialising in contemporary and experimental art.

Friends and fellow artists often dropped in to see what Tan was working on, but his finished sculptures, the Venus series, were not exhibited in Viet Nam, instead being shown in Germany in 2001, and later in Japan, Holland and Singapore.

Now they can finally be seen in his homeland, thanks to the efforts of Lenzi, a researcher specialising in the contemporary art of the Southeast Asia and a long-term admirer of Tan's art.

"When I first saw his works I realised that he was making things that other people had not yet thought about. So he was very much ahead of his time," she said at the opening of the exhibition.

"By the 1980s Tan was creating works that bear the hallmark of what in the Southeast Asian context was later understood as contemporary. Now we can think about the meaning of his works in the context of Viet Nam and Southeast Asia as well," she added.

The fine art critic and long-time friend of Tan, Luong Xuan Doan, said that young artists should be inspired by his work. "Tan's art will encourage the young generation to continue on from his aesthetic ideas and use them to challenge the traditional Vietnamese sense of beauty. We all recognise his devotion to the progression of art in Viet Nam."

The opening ceremony was heavily attended, with many braving the rush-hour traffic to arrive well in advance of the scheduled start. Friends, family and colleagues of Tan were present alongside people who never met him but admire his achievements.

The other artist featured at Venus in Viet Nam is Nguyen Nghia Cuong, who also explores the little-explored but historically relevant role played by gender, sexuality and women in Vietnamese visual art since the turn of the century.

Born in 1973, Cuong is a graduate of Viet Nam Fine Arts University, and has become known for his ironic approach to contemporary reality which he paints as being dominated by consumerism and brand-culture.

In his series Beauty High Quality, which is one of the first instalments visitors see when they enter the exhibition, he continues his investigation of the intersection of popular culture and advertising with life and society.

The work was made in 2007 from recycled waste materials such as cartons, packages of noodles and cans and labels of coca cola. "By placing logos and brand emblems in the position of women's sexual organs I am sending a message both about the abuse of women and cultural depravation," said Cuong.

His works were chosen to accompany Tan's by lucky chance. The young artist had applied for a solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute, but organisers found important conceptual and emotional links between the two artists and decided to display their works together, albeit separated into two spaces inside the main hall.

Cuong is overwhelmed to find his work alongside one of his heroes. "It is my dream. I am almost lost for words because it is too amazing. I have always regarded Tan as a giant of Vietnamese contemporary art," he said.

Cuong once had a solo exhibition at the Natasha salon where he met and talked frequently with Tan, who told the young artist that it was very interesting that both painted a lot of their art on newspapers. He even suggested that it would be good to have a shared exhibition, Cuong recalled. Ten years later this has been realised.

Invited to the exhibition by the Goethe Institute, young artist Nguyen Thanh Phong summed up the appeal of the art. "The ideas are very unique and, simply, there is some very beautiful visual art on display."

The exhibition Venus in Viet Nam is open to the public until October 14 at 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street.