Vo Quang Phat, the painter
Among Hue artists, Vo Quang Phat is known as a young painter with dedication, exploration, and creativity. At the 2017 traditional art exhibition, his artwork titled "Spring - Summer - Autumn - Winter" was selected by the Art Council for the annual award of the Provincial Fine Arts Association.
With this work, Vo Quang Phat marked a change in his style by demonstrating personal breakthroughs and exploration in his creative journey when taking advantage of old techniques to create a new style.
He used water marbling art to exploit the natural and random elements of oil slicks in water to create color harmony. Viewers can feel the onset of a circulation of life: the tiny, sparkling blobs that intertwine to highlight the thriving of all species in the spring.
Meanwhile, the color of flamboyant flowers dominates the palette, creating a nostalgic, emotional sense of the summer. Autumn, with its air of sadness, is associated with the image of yellow and brown falling leaves in paintings. Clearly, the work is a symbolic representation of the reality but not too abstract to puzzle viewers. The art of papercutting also exerts the realistic and abstract effects of yin and yang.
Innovative and persevere, Vo Quang Phat often pursues a topic to the end with several series of paintings. His chosen topics range from the symbol of the eyes, Buddhism, life, and the beauty of nature. In the series of symbolic paintings of the eyes, Quang Phat drew stylized shapes to denote the symbolic values of the eyes. He shared: "The eyes take on immense significance in terms of meaning as they symbolize the mind and spirit. They inspire me profoundly, because the eyes are considered the windows of the soul".
With another series of works on the theme of Buddhism, the young artist implies his contemplation of human life through the teachings of the Buddha, the concepts and philosophy of Buddhism. The image of monks who go for pindapata featured in his lacquer work "the Spiritual Journey" is a journey towards wisdom and compassion represented by the symbol of the eyes and heart. The yellow and red shades are created using the technique of baking and sticking eggshells, together with embossing lacquer to remind the viewers of a typical space of Buddhism.
With "Reincarnation" artwork, Vo Quang Phat depicts rebirth from one life to another, from one realm to another. Through his use of expressive materials in the work, viewers can envisage the ups and downs of a happy or miserable realm.
"The Spiritual Journey" artwork
The feelings about life are also expressed in the series of works on the theme of "Life", featuring from culturally tangible and intangible values to some vague feelings about daily chores such as market meeting scenes, musicians playing music, childhood memories ...
Vo Quang Phat said he was exploring the beauty of nature through landscapes and flora. Yet he did not depict these topics realistically but selectively created abstract works that display both realistic and typical characteristics.
This can be felt with "Flowery Waves", an artwork once exhibited in Thailand. By water marbling technique combined with the effects of seashells and oyster’s shells, the painting depicts sparkling waves in the sun, highlighting the shimmering ocean living creatures and creating great visual effects.
Though graduated with Graphic Design specialization, Vo Quang Phat has a special passion for fine arts. In addition to teaching and designing, the rest of his time has been devoted to drawing.
On his creative journey, Vo Quang Phat found it difficult to experiment with different materials, from lacquer, acrylic, water marbling, to the application of new materials, such as paints, sand, and seashells to create a mix media material to convey creative notions.
His passion urged Vo Quang Phat to present and share his artworks in almost any fine art exhibitions in Hue, and some in Thailand and Korea. Phat's paintings mainly pursue semi-abstractionism, thereby both communicating his preoccupations and freeing the viewer's minds. Mainly using lines, Quang Phat's works are the scrutinous selection of images and the generalization of composition. This helped him somehow shape a particular signature style.
"Ngộ" (Enlightenment)
Vo Quang Phat confided: "For me, creativity is a transformation of imagination and memory, and I am still in the process of searching for the novelty. To nurture my emotions, I read avidly to broaden my knowledge, enrich my cultural background, refine my observations and feelings for the beauty of life around me...”
Story and photos by Trang Hien