Touching the viewer’s heart
Vu Duy Tam's acrylic painting "Girl" touches the viewer’s heart with his mature classic techniques. His style is not to show, but to express his profound feelings. The painting gets across his message about peacefulness in chaotic life.
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“Girl" by Vu Duy Tam
“The Golden Nap" by Nguyen Y Nhi also brings strong emotions to the viewer. Made of silk on paper, the painting depicts the peaceful sleep of a young girl. Though the painting is simply a nap in daily life, it is both realistic and romantic, bringing a feeling which is soft, tender, and deep, allowing the viewer to recognize the beauty of that moment, bringing people back to their good nature.
Of the same woman theme, Nguyen Duc Nghia's “Girl and Bird” shows people’s love for nature and women’s desire for freedom and gender equality. The fact that he uses synthetic materials with discarded plastic bags brings something new and exploring to the exhibition.
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“The Suburb” by Nguyen Van Sy
“For me, painting is like a game. My inspiration always comes from things that are simple and close to life. With this material, I want to get across the message that nothing is thrown away if we know how to give it a value. This is also a way to protect our living environment,” said the painter Nguyen Duc Nghia.
Those three paintings are the ones that won the first prizes by Thua Thien Hue Fine Arts Association. Although they aren’t of a new genre, they were are highly valued for showing the young artists’ perspectives. Their new ways of expression reveal the move in young artists.
Connecting creators with the public
Held for the first time in 2016, the art exhibition by the young is a playground for young artists. After a two-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 5th art exhibition by the young organized by the Thua Thien Hue Fine Arts Association gathers 36 works by 35 young artists under 45. All the works are newly-made (from 2021), most of which are easel paintings with familiar materials such as silk, oil paint, acrylic, synthetic materials, etc. The graphics include pen nib, wood carving, trucchigraphy, etc.
“The Golden Nap” by Nguyen Y Nhi
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic which badly affects young artists’ psychology and their working conditions, this exhibition is not as large-scale as the previous ones and lacks such newer art forms as installation or video art. Despite that there are many beautiful paintings showing their great efforts. The remarkable thing is the diversity in expression, material, and style in addition to the diversity in theme.
“This exhibition shows that some young artists’ styles are taking shape. Their solid styles and skillful usage of materials reveal their hard work and creativity which deserve to be recognized. The viewer is attracted by their metaphor messages hidden behind each work. They are their perspectives about human life in their eyes and their attitudes toward problems which they face in the modern life. They depict the good, the bad, the peacefulness, the war, nature and their love of life,” commented Nguyen Thien Duc, a painter, Chairman of Thua Thien Hue Fine Arts Association.
The fine arts exhibition by the young is a great idea of the Thua Thien Hue Fine Arts Association. It creates an opportunity for young artists to show their creativity and to announce their new discoveries in art. It diversifies tastes in art for the public. This is also a chance for the art committee to discover, evaluate, and recognize young artists’ efforts.
“The exhibition is an opportunity for us to exchange our experience and showcase our talents, bringing the viewer a real “art banquet.” This helps us widen our road of creativity and get closer to the public,” said the young painter Nguyen Y Nhi.
According to Nguyen Thien Duc, the Fine Arts Association has invested a lot in young artists, who will represent the fine arts of the province in the future. However, this exhibition is just the beginning since the Fine Arts Association has not yet been able to organize a larger playground. In order to make a breakthrough, it needs the investment and cooperation from agencies, departments, organizations, and businesses...
Story and photos: Minh Hien