A feast of 137 works from six established artists are on display at theHo Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum, exploring daily life under the theme"The Color of the South" for the pleasure of all art lovers.
Four of the artists - Duong Sen (1949), Le Xuan Chieu (1956), LuongKhanh Toan (1955) and Nguyen Dang Khoat (1952), all aged between 57 and64 - were born in northern Vietnam and later moved to the southern hub.
Ho Minh Quan (1961), from Hue city, presents 13large oil paintings with a predominance of blues and greens that mostlydepict young plants in Spring.
Nguyen Dam Thuy(1967), the youngest and only woman in the group, is from Ben Treprovince. Her 23 large oil paintings reflect daily life and portraywomanhood. Sen is a master of lacquer and has 33 works featuring the seaor life in the Mekong Delta.
Khoat uses brightcolours in his 29 oil paintings about the North featuring memories ofhis childhood. Meanwhile, Toan has 10 40x60cm lacquer paintingsdepicting a variety of landscapes.
For over acentury, lacquer has played a significant role in traditional Vietnamesepainting. Vietnam’s lacquer paintings have earned special attentionglobally because it strongly expresses national characteristics.
The paintings themselves are using a variety of materials in additionto the lacquer: mother of pearl, eggs, shells, gold leaves, and silverdust, sand, epoxy and clay, which are inlaid.
Therefore, painting with lacquer takes a long and complex processrequiring great skill and patience. It may take several months,depending on the technique used and the number of layers of lacquerapplied.
It involves the application of many layersof lacquer on a prepared wooden board, allowing each to dry in turn, andfinally polishing the painting with pumice to reveal whatever coloursthe artist desires in different areas of the painting.
Other materials used include eggshell to produce a white color,mother-of-pearl, gold and silver leaf. The final result is smooth anddurable and will not crack due to fluctuations of temperature orhumidity.
Chieu's 29 works straddle several genres -multi-media, lacquer, silk, wood carving, and pastel. "Pastel and silkare delicate materials but when mixed they can create long-lastingworks," Chieu said. His works are about people living in the northernmountains.
The exhibition, the sixth by the group held annually in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, will run at the museum until 18 November.-VNA
Four of the artists - Duong Sen (1949), Le Xuan Chieu (1956), LuongKhanh Toan (1955) and Nguyen Dang Khoat (1952), all aged between 57 and64 - were born in northern Vietnam and later moved to the southern hub.
Ho Minh Quan (1961), from Hue city, presents 13large oil paintings with a predominance of blues and greens that mostlydepict young plants in Spring.
Nguyen Dam Thuy(1967), the youngest and only woman in the group, is from Ben Treprovince. Her 23 large oil paintings reflect daily life and portraywomanhood. Sen is a master of lacquer and has 33 works featuring the seaor life in the Mekong Delta.
Khoat uses brightcolours in his 29 oil paintings about the North featuring memories ofhis childhood. Meanwhile, Toan has 10 40x60cm lacquer paintingsdepicting a variety of landscapes.
For over acentury, lacquer has played a significant role in traditional Vietnamesepainting. Vietnam’s lacquer paintings have earned special attentionglobally because it strongly expresses national characteristics.
The paintings themselves are using a variety of materials in additionto the lacquer: mother of pearl, eggs, shells, gold leaves, and silverdust, sand, epoxy and clay, which are inlaid.
Therefore, painting with lacquer takes a long and complex processrequiring great skill and patience. It may take several months,depending on the technique used and the number of layers of lacquerapplied.
It involves the application of many layersof lacquer on a prepared wooden board, allowing each to dry in turn, andfinally polishing the painting with pumice to reveal whatever coloursthe artist desires in different areas of the painting.
Other materials used include eggshell to produce a white color,mother-of-pearl, gold and silver leaf. The final result is smooth anddurable and will not crack due to fluctuations of temperature orhumidity.
Chieu's 29 works straddle several genres -multi-media, lacquer, silk, wood carving, and pastel. "Pastel and silkare delicate materials but when mixed they can create long-lastingworks," Chieu said. His works are about people living in the northernmountains.
The exhibition, the sixth by the group held annually in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, will run at the museum until 18 November.-VNA
