“I want to show the passion that Vietnam has instilled in me. I paint my impressions to capture this country. Through my paintings people can feel the soul of Vietnam and my love for this country. Vietnam has a beauty and constant change that makes it so special,” says French painter Hélène Kling, who has for the past 17 years lived and worked in Vietnam, where “every tear that fell in happiness, joy or sadness has instantly found its expression through my paintings and has been translated in color and material” as she once put it.

Hélène Kling’s passion for Vietnam will be on display through her new collection, “Rêve de Fer”, literally translated as “Dreams of Iron”, at Exhibition House on Le Thanh Ton street, Ho Chi Minh City, 14-18 November 2013.

The new collection uses recycle materials, started two years ago by Hélène Kling as the beginning of a new series of research, in which she has turned to three-dimensional materials such as corrugate iron, cardboard and other waste materials. These rough and industrial recycled materials give her works of art an aesthetic gross, softened by the addition of gold and silver leaf and semi-precious stones. Hélène enthuses about how this discovery matches perfectly with the concept she has when painting woman- energy, robustness and indestructibility, but still subtly adorned by jewels.

“Rêve de Fer” takes the concept of “Poubelle Plus Belle”, literally “Most beautiful rubbish” or “Best rubbish”. The original French version has a witty play on words, with “Belle” meaning “Beautiful” but also forming the word “Poubelle” as a dustbin, implying beauty can also be found in the most insalubrious objects and demonstrated through Hélène’s genius use of recycled materials, transforming them into authentic, wonderful pieces of arts.

The ‘tough beauty’ concept does not stop at her use of materials, but through the images of woman portrayed by Hélène Kling, from the ethnic woman in “H’Mong Fleuri” with her intricate, colourful hat and slightly frowning expression implying a nerve of steel, to the Japanese beauty in “Rubis” wearing a traditional dress with features which at first seem delicate but hide something akin to rebellion in her gaze, to the black girl in “Terre d’Afrique” with slender neck and shoulders but looks like someone you can trust as a true warrior.

“My artistic research covers both a reflection on a woman’s image and the situation of women in different societies. I have lived in Vietnam since 1996 and I have seen that the evolution of this country follows the woman or indeed the opposite way. Vietnamese women are the essence of the land; they are its beauty, its strength and its intelligence.  A woman is a mother, a daughter; is active, loving and a lover, but still more or less used. In certain countries she is an image without a spirit used for its beauty, in other ones she is hidden because of her spirit and her beauty. Through my art, I decided to represent women in all her forms,” says Hélène Kling about her inspiration.

Hélène Kling Studio and Art School

189/C1 Nguyen Van Huong St, Thao Dien Ward, Dist. 2, Ho Chi Minh City

Tel: +84-903955780

Email: hk.painter@gmail.com

Website: www.helenekling.com