Cheat Codes
A Solo exhibition by Hà Ninh pham
 

June 22- July 2nd, 2019

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 22nd, 2019, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

New York, NY – June 4th, 2019 – FRONT is pleased to host Cheat Codes organized and curated by Passenger Pigeon Press. This exhibition features the work of Hà Ninh Pham.

Cheat Codes is the first show of Hà Ninh’s long term drawing project My Land, which he has been working on since 2017.  In the body of work for My Land, Hà Ninh presents an imaginary world about which we are given copious amounts of meticulous information that is precise and meaningful, yet nothing in the drawings relate to any actual place or thing that is recognizable to the viewer.  My Land currently has two ways of access as presented in Cheat Codes.  The first is [mothermap], a large work on paper in graphite and acrylic, which acts as a key to understanding the map system and is remade every year as the project grows.  Like a chessboard, it uses an 8x8 grid system, coordinated on one side from 1 to 8 and the other from A to H.  Each of these 64 space units leads to more local maps, other works on paper that Hà Ninh presents in Cheat Codes, becoming deeper spatial explorations of the land.  In this way, the system of My Land supports an infinite unfolding of space.

Alongside the works that belong to the [mothermap], Passenger Pigeon Press is proud to present II.[interpretation 1], our collaborative artbook with Hà Ninh and the second way to access My Land as presented in Cheat Codes.  II.[interpretation 1] is a map that Hà Ninh produces to further explore the concept of My Land, but in a messier, less structured way than in [mothermap].  In II.[interpretation 1], the information is layered rather than ordered as it is in the works on paper on the walls; the form of the book itself represents the sky folded in on the land, and the information Hà Ninh draws does not follow the strict grid structure of [mothermap] and the other works on paper in Cheat Codes.  II.[interpretation 1] is another way for the reader to understand and dissect the structures that Hà Ninh builds in My Land.

Hà Ninh Pham (born 1991) is an artist from Hanoi, Vietnam, who works primarily in drawing and sculpture.  His work explores the way in which we construct an understanding of a territory from afar.  Ha Ninh Pham earned his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and his BA from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts.  He received the Silver Medal for Young Talents of Vietnamese Fine Arts Universities in 2015 and the Murray Dessner Travel Award in 2018.  Hà Ninh has been in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yaddo, Wassaic Project, and Marble House Project.  His work has been shown in Hanoi, Philadelphia, and New York, and will be included in the New American Paintings issue 141.  He will have a two-person show with Tammy Nguyen curated by Zoe Butt this August at the Factory Center for Contemporary Arts in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

All artworks will be available for purchase.