Some Truc Chi works at the exhibition within the Hue Traditional Craft Festival

More responsibility

The awards have been given to college students of fine art for many years since the establishment. The nomination this year has been for young artists, artisans and researchers in the field of traditional handicraft. This makes the award known more widely in the country and in the world.

In the poetic Lebadang Memory Space on the hill of Kim Son, Thuy Bang Commune, Hue city, nominees were selected and awarded formally but impressively. It was impressive because the award was organized to celebrate Le Ba Dang’s 100th birthday in the presence of many well-wishers of this talent artist.

Truc Chi has been so familiar to art lovers, and the fact that its co-founder was honored has brought them pleasure and pride.

“We dedicate this award to the homeland where we have been brought up and where we are living now. We believe that we will grow quickly to meet the expectations of the award panel and everyone,” said Phan Hai Bang after being presented with the award from film director Dang Nhat Minh, people’s artist and Chairman of Lebadang Art Foundation.

Artist Phan Hai Bang (left) receiving the Lebadang Art Foundation Award

Truc Chi – an artform combining art and paper, officially came into existence in 2012 as a result of a research project on crafting paper art inspired from the idea of “empowering paper so that it can become an independent artwork instead of an auxiliary material.”

Ever since its birth, this artform has been highly appreciated for its traditional inheritance value and its flexible application of traditional crafts. For this reason, Truc Chi has been welcomed in many places where they are present. It has outweighed other artforms and become a gift that is preferred by both distinguished guests and ordinary tourists.

Creativity in material and applicability

Phan Hai Bang recalled so many memories with the talented artist that the award was named after. They are like the extended opportunity for him to receive the award today. He said he had many chances to meet with Le Ba Dang, but he was too young and new in art to fully understand his works of art.

It was not until 2004 when Phan Hai Bang paid a visit to France and met Le Ba Dang that he had a better understanding about the journey of art and creativity of his senior.

“I had little time to meet with him then, but I had good memories. What I benefited was the concept of boundary, which is clear in geographical division, but never exists in art creativity. I realize that identity, idiosyncratic, region and nationality seem to emerge in the world flow of art,” said the 2022 Lebadang award winner.

Thanks to this, in his work with Truc Chi art Phan Hai Bang was able to tell stories with paper and art inspired from Le Ba Dang’s small and rustic stories, making it possible for a sheet of paper to become an independent artwork. This is a valuable work of art in itself.

Phan Hai Bang emphasized: “The award has great significance. It is a recognition and evidence of initial success in creating new values rather than just a new material.”

Historian Duong Trung Quoc, Vice-chairman of Lebadang Art Foundation said that there were many nominees for the award. The decision to present this award to Phan Hai Bang with his art of Truc Chi was the result of careful and fair considerations from members of the award management board.

“The art of Truc Chi, with its creativity in material and applicability in visual art, has brought about considerable achievements as an invention in material. It opens up chances for artistic creativity and originality, which is publicly accepted with high-quality artworks. These satisfy the award criteria,” Duong Trung Quoc commented.

Inheriting the spirit of creativity and love for homeland

Born in Quang Tri, Vietnam, Le Ba Dang moved to France in 1939 with a group of “worker soldiers” and studied at Toulouse Art Academy before becoming a famous painter in Europe.

The Center for International Biography of the University of Cambridge (UK) included him in the list of world-famous people; the French Government awarded him with the Order of Culture and Arts of France. He is considered by the art world as a master of the East and West worlds. He died in 2015 in Paris, aged 94.

In 2016, the Lebadang Art Foundation was launched in Hue in accordance with his will. The foundation chairman, People’s Artist Dang Nhat Minh, said that the establishment of the fund would maintain Le Ba Dang’s creative spirit and love of the homeland.

Story: Nhat Minh

Photos: N.M & H.T – Lebadang Memory Space