Van Hai Challenges the viewer to use their imagination and create fantasy in their mind.  These photographs are luxuriously visual, with brilliant abstraction.  The light and shadow plays make each and every image intriguing for the viewer.  Close attention is paid to texture, form and detail, creating real images wit real emotions.  Time and again, this Vietnam-born photographer proves that he is a true romantic aesthete and photographic poet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Born in Saigon, Vietnman, Van Hai immigrated to Montreal, Quebec in 1978.  There he studied Photograph y at Dawson College as well as Science and Industrial Design at Concordia University.  He started shooting fine art and portraiture in Montreal before relocating to Vancouver in 1986.  There he initially focused on fashion photography and portraiture.  After being introduced to Vancouver’s famed Wreck Beach in 1988,  Van Hai became fascinated with the human form.  At this time he began a  still ongoing photographic study of the body as his main focus.  Also included in his achievements are solo exhibitions in Hong Kong and Vancouver, as well as many commercial projects.

 

 

 

The exhibit is divided into two segments, “Les Nues Desertiques” (photographed in-studio) and the Wreck Beach Series (photographed in glorious and natural light).  Each subject is captured in a moment and exudes contemplative eroticism.  Often they have an abstract, natural and ethereal quality that strikes the viewer at first glance.  The fourteen pieces exhibited here are filled with Black & White nudes that are exquisitely lit, Van Hai being a master of the art of lighting.