Exhibit Paintings May Be Pulled

To avoid offending Vietnamese emigres in Orange County, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art may pull some paintings from its upcoming exhibit of Vietnamese contemporary and ancient art.

Community leaders from Little Saigon also have been invited to a special preview showing today that officials of the Santa Ana museum hope will extinguish concerns that the artwork is an endorsement of the Communist government in Vietnam.

“The art is apolitical,” said Janet Baker, curator for the exhibit. “I would like to think Vietnamese people, despite their political backgrounds, will be able to enjoy it.”

The museum still expects to draw some anti-Communist protesters, the same demonstrators who overwhelmed Little Saigon early this year after a local shopkeeper displayed the Communist Vietnamese flag.

The art exhibit, “A Winding River: The Journey of Contemporary Art in Vietnam,” has toured the nation and is the first cultural exchange project since the United States and Vietnam reestablished diplomatic relations in 1995.

The artwork includes more than six dozen paintings and drawings by Vietnamese artists, some displaying cultural influences from France, the former Soviet Union and the United States. It was organized by the Meridian International Center, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., that promotes international cultural understanding.

Most of the exhibit is made up of portraits, still lifes and landscapes, Baker said.

At least two of the paintings may be shelved, however, because of concerns voiced by two Vietnamese American leaders who viewed the artwork earlier this week, said Gemma Cunningham, spokeswoman for the exhibit.

One of the leaders, Mission Viejo businessman Quang X. Pham, said he saw three works that may offend some Vietnamese emigres because some of the subjects are North Vietnamese soldiers.

“We just wanted to make sure it’s not Communist propaganda,” said Pham, who is leading an effort to build a Vietnamese cultural center in Orange County. “Pulling three pieces out of a collection of more than 200 isn’t going to compromise the collection.”

Cunningham said the museum is reviewing the request, but no final determination has been made. All of the artwork in the exhibit was selected for Meridian by a team of independent scholars, not the Vietnamese government, she said.

Still, Do Trong Duc, president of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California in Westminster, said he fears the contemporary paintings will portray modern-day Communist Vietnam as a peaceful, healthy society.

“That’s not a true image. That’s the one thing we’re very concerned about,” said Duc, a vehement anti-Communist.

Along with the artwork, the Bowers will display the drums of ancient Vietnam in “Dong Son: Drums of Resistance and the Flowering of Bronze Age Vietnam.”

Both exhibits will be at the Bowers June 26 through Oct. 3.