In Binh Minh Gallery, there is a large and beautiful painting called "Tinh Hoa Gia" (a quiet and peacefuul family) painted by artist Nghiem Xuan Hung about the family of collector Truong Van Thuan.
The painting includes a bronze statue of collector, painting of outstanding Artist Anh Tuyet (Mr. Thuan's wife) and objects in the room, including animals symbolizing family members. The painter wrote the couplet "The thorny path of love will eventually be smooth, the stormy path must be prosperous", to talk about the lives of Thuan and Hung, even though they encounter storms and disasters, they will still be Thuan and Hung. The artist, with love for the collector, devoted his thoughts and emotions into making this work...
Nghiem Xuan Hung, Tinh Hoa Gia, oil painting, 120x100cm, 2015
I have been rersearching paintings for almost 30 years, havinng close relations to many famous contemporary artists in Ho Chi Minh City, have visited many galleries, attended many exhibitions, and spent time researching painting, sculpture, so there is also a little sense of the style and depth of many artists' works. When I came to Mr. Truong Van Thuan's Binh Minh Gallery, among hundreds of paintings covering three floors, I suddenly saw a drawing style that was quite familiar but... very strange, the images and colors were very realistic. It was like the melody of the song "Love Story", this song suddenly became strangely attractive, not happy, not sad, but go deep into the heart with flavors of love, of longing, of affection and separation.
Seeing me standing hesitantly in front of that painter's paintings, Mr. Thuan introduced: "That is a painting by Nghiem Xuan Hung, a quite famous person in Hanoi. I met him on a cold winter day in 2013, in Viet Hung urban area, in Long Bien district, an old man with white hair and beard, sad, gentle eyes but a fierce inner heart, his wishes were always overflowing. If you look closely at his works, you will find the new in the old, that is the passion that shows no signs of fatigue or rest of an artist who loves the land of his birth, the simple taste of life has seeped into skin and muscle."
Nghiem Xuan Hung paints many genres, depicting streets and scenes of community activities with nuances of the Northern Delta and the Red River basin, but I am interested in the paintings of young women dressed in the old country style. naturally live with local or family customs. The bib, crow's beak scarf and black large pants are skillfully exploited by the Painter, next to the space of the pagoda, lotus flowers, lamps, arrangement of worship offerings... He does not pose the beauty of a ladies, but almost the portraits are of young girls in the countryside, with elegant faces, aspirational eyes, and white skin. Many girls bare their breasts, showing off their natural beauty, the vitality of puberty, and the indispensable power of women to build their future.
These images remind me of poet Nguyen Binh, the king of beautiful and very true poems about the countryside:
"Where is the oak silk bib?
The waistband was dyed in spring
Where is the four-piece long dress?
Towel raven beak, black pants?
If I say it, I'm afraid of offending you
Please! Please keep the countryside intact...
Lemon flowers bloom in the lemon garden
Our parents and us, we all the countryside people...".
Many painters exploit "nakedness" in many aspects, sexually, such as walking in the rain wearing thin clothes, lying in a position to show off seductive curves, sitting dreamily with fiery breasts. ... to Nghiem Xuan Hung, those quintessence given by nature are just "eternal beauty - eternal sadness", beauty is undeniable, everyone can comment according to their feelings, but the sadness can only be understood by those who have experienced it.
Nghiem Xuan Hung, the Muse, oil painting, 100x100cm, 2018
Why using that language? The special thing I see in the paintings of this Painter is that the extra details and background are expressed as diversely and thoroughly as the main images. The girl is not monotonous with her appearance, but her exterior always goes with her activities, her eyes are thoughtful or she is performing an operation. The backgrounds mostly depict objects, pagodas, temples, and unique local landscapes, and it is these elaborate details that enhance the beauty of the work. With a surreal, neoclassical drawing style, Nghiem Xuan Hung quite skillfully shows the wrinkles of the shirt, the softness of the waistband, exposes natural details, and depicts the "flesh and skin" of the shirts, lotus leaves, ceramic vase... a romantic and realistic style that requires high workmanship and utmost diligence focusing on the drawing pen.
I like Renaissance European paintings, including the painting style of Peter Paul Rubbens (like the painting "Judgment in Paris" completed in 1636) or "Madonna with Children" by Filippo Lippi painted in 1465. ..Nghiem Xuan Hung's paintings have a part in that easy-to-feel drawing style. In the "Cam, Ky, Exam, Painting" painting, usually the author's mood is the same as the work. With the expression of profound depth in their eyes and the quiet naturalness of the girls in most of Nghiem Xuan Hung's paintings, viewers can recall the poems in "The Boatgirl" by Nguyen Binh. :
"But then there was that lovely guest
gone away and never returned... to the riverbank
How many times has spring flowed forever?
How many times did the girl get tired of looking...?".
Nghiem Xuan Hung also wrote poetry, his poetry was sad with a bit of bitterness in the human world:
"I don't want to welcome New Year's Eve
The leftover taste doesn't want to get drunk... the leftover love is still there
I'm sitting here...";
For people who live a lot with their inner thoughts, their work is wrapped up in their mind or thinking, they often go to peaceful places to reflect and express their emotions. The same goes for Nghiem Xuan Hung. Since 2009, he has been in seclusion. in an apartment overlooking a park in a newly developed urban area in Long Bien district, Hanoi.
He himself said about himself:
"Hey, remember this sentence
Be human, don't fill the crowd
The crowd is as big as it is
In that crowd, you couldn't see yourself...".
Thoughtful, observant and down-to-earth, these are the qualities that remain in the works of the talented painter in Hanoi...
In 2018, during a personal exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City organized by Gallery Binh Minh, "Countryside" person Nghiem Xuan Hung confided: "It's been a long time since I last went to the South, I feel lightheaded and full of emotions." Our county is one strip, unified and peaceful. Oh, the tree shape - lined streets, the buildings that keep rising, the young girls and boys, full of life, make me love the country with those beautiful mountains and rivers..
Tran Tu Van – People’s Public security Newspaper April 29, 2023
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