Galerie BAO is pleased to present at stand H12 the duo exhibition Untamed Souls, featuring artists Nguyen Duy Manh and Truong Cong Tung, bringing together two contrasting practices and calls into question “earth” in all its physical, historical, and spiritual implications.

Like a sumptuous feast set in a wild garden, a dramatic banquet of symbols in the center of the display. Nguyen Duy Manh named this series Hồn Xiêu – Phách Lạc (Wandering Souls – Lost Spirits, 2017-ongoing): “hồn” (spirit) refers to the ceramic “skins” hanging on the wall; “phách” (spirit’s envelope) refers to the weightier, sophisticated dishes on the table, prepared from shards with ancient patterns. He dissects, peels, and reconstructs them into irresistible dishes themselves awaiting consumption. The artist’s sharing and distribution of the meal invites spectators to participate in its ritual, in a gesture that is both generous and intimate.
The space dedicated to Truong Cong Tung recalls two sedimentary layers, wherein images, movements, poetry, and the chaos of a community intertwine. Truong Cong Tung captures his memories in the artwork As time passes through shadows… (2023-ongoing). These works in lacquer, where the artist erases the superficial to find figures buried in deeper layers, recall the artist’s childhood in Gia Lai, in the Vietnamese highlands, filled with long moonlit nights among the coffee trees where the sounds of insects are lullabies. Each lacquer painting on terracotta is a stele of memory.