In Ho Chi Minh City's art scene, the urgent call for creative expression has been rekindled. A recent exhibition at the Chillala House of Art in Hanoi showcased the work of Bùi Thanh Tâm, an artist whose long-held fascination with global hybridity has reached new conceptual heights.
Tâm's "Christ, Buddha and the Jigsaw" is a vibrant and meditative series that brings together nearly 50 post-pandemic works, fusing elements of religious iconography, folk traditions, and pop media. The exhibition, curated by Phil Zheng Cai and Richard Vine, features paintings and sculptures that juxtapose images such as Christ, Buddha, the Statue of Liberty, and eyeballs in a kaleidoscopic cosmology of belief and reproduction.
The works on display are characterized by their use of puzzle-like grids, digitally reprinted multiple times to form a sense of iteration and repetition. This creates an art of transformation, where faith is transformed into image and originality becomes a cyclical process. In this digital age, even the sacred circulates as content.
The exhibition's layout guides viewers through two floors, starting with a dense, image-saturated field that gives way to more subtle works upstairs. One standout piece, "Buddha-God in the Mind of Freedom No. 0," features a monumental Buddha head surrounded by gold-and-black checkerboard squares and faint images of Jesus beneath its surface. The work disrupts traditional notions of devotion by blurring the lines between two central religious figures.
Tâm's use of Đông Hồ and Hàng Trống folk imagery creates a cascading frame of vibrant blues and reds that surround the Buddha's face, while also threatening to dismantle it. This tension between serenity and rupture holds the work together, proposing enlightenment not as a fixed ideal but as an image repeatedly tested by history, hybridity, and the fragmentation of faith.
In this sense, salvation becomes an act of composition, one puzzle piece at a time. Tâm's art invites us to consider how faith mutates in the face of global hybridity, rather than disappearing altogether. By reimagining the sacred as a dynamic, interlocking system, Tâm creates a powerful vision for our times.
Tâm's "Christ, Buddha and the Jigsaw" is a vibrant and meditative series that brings together nearly 50 post-pandemic works, fusing elements of religious iconography, folk traditions, and pop media. The exhibition, curated by Phil Zheng Cai and Richard Vine, features paintings and sculptures that juxtapose images such as Christ, Buddha, the Statue of Liberty, and eyeballs in a kaleidoscopic cosmology of belief and reproduction.
The works on display are characterized by their use of puzzle-like grids, digitally reprinted multiple times to form a sense of iteration and repetition. This creates an art of transformation, where faith is transformed into image and originality becomes a cyclical process. In this digital age, even the sacred circulates as content.
The exhibition's layout guides viewers through two floors, starting with a dense, image-saturated field that gives way to more subtle works upstairs. One standout piece, "Buddha-God in the Mind of Freedom No. 0," features a monumental Buddha head surrounded by gold-and-black checkerboard squares and faint images of Jesus beneath its surface. The work disrupts traditional notions of devotion by blurring the lines between two central religious figures.
Tâm's use of Đông Hồ and Hàng Trống folk imagery creates a cascading frame of vibrant blues and reds that surround the Buddha's face, while also threatening to dismantle it. This tension between serenity and rupture holds the work together, proposing enlightenment not as a fixed ideal but as an image repeatedly tested by history, hybridity, and the fragmentation of faith.
In this sense, salvation becomes an act of composition, one puzzle piece at a time. Tâm's art invites us to consider how faith mutates in the face of global hybridity, rather than disappearing altogether. By reimagining the sacred as a dynamic, interlocking system, Tâm creates a powerful vision for our times.
"Christ, Buddha and the Jigsaw" sounds like something out of a trippy fever dream 
i love how Tâm combines these different symbols and imagery in a way that's both chaotic and meditative at the same time. its like he's showing us that faith isn't about finding one 'right' answer but more about piecing together the puzzle of life 
anyway, i'm curious to see what other ppl think of this exhibition!
. I love how the artworks use puzzle-like grids to create a sense of iteration and repetition - it's like, totally thought-provoking 
. And that standout piece "Buddha-God in the Mind of Freedom No. 0" is, like, whoa 
! The way Tâm disrupts traditional notions of devotion by blurring the lines between two central religious figures is SO cool 
. I think this exhibition is, like, super relevant to our times - it's all about how faith mutates in the face of global hybridity 
. It's like, totally making me rethink what salvation means 
!
...anyway, I went to check out this exhibition at the Chillala House of Art in Hanoi and it was definitely a wild ride 
. The way Tâm uses Đông Hồ and Hàng Trống imagery is just so cool too, all these intricate patterns and colors coming together to create this stunning cosmic landscape 
...anyway, if you're an art lover like me, you gotta check out Tâm's work ASAP 
. And I love how he's using these puzzle-like grids to show how originality can become a cyclical process - it's like he's making this amazing case for creativity being all about iteration and transformation 
. Tâm's art is really making me think about what it means to be spiritual in the digital age 
.
. Tâm's art is all about transformation, not just of images, but of our very understanding of faith itself 
. We're living in a world where everything is becoming hyper-connected and hybridized – our identities, our cultures, even our spiritual practices 
; it's an ongoing process of discovery and composition 
. And let's be real, who doesn't love a good puzzle? 
Tâm's use of grids and repetition in his work is like a digital game of Tetris – but instead of blocks, he's working with sacred symbols and images 
. As a parent, it's also great to see how this type of art can inspire critical thinking and creativity in our kids 
